Episode 91: Wrapping Up Season One


Voiceover: Welcome to the Modern Classrooms Project Podcast. Each week we bring you discussions with educators on how they use blended, self-paced, and mastery-based learning to better serve their students. We believe teachers learn best from each other, so this is our way of lifting up the voices of leaders and innovators in our community. This is the Modern Classrooms Project Podcast. 


Hello, and welcome to episode 91 of the Modern Classrooms Project Podcast. My name is Tony Rosdien, and she her Pronouns, a community engagement manager at Modern Classroom, and I am joined today by Zach and Kareem. Hey, too. Hey, how are you? You know, I'm here, which is always exciting. I'm in the space with you both. So really cool stuff. And again, I'm so excited. It's so exciting to be in this space with both of you, and I'm excited to wrap up our first podcast season this year. So before we get started, how are you feeling today? Zach? I'm doing pretty good. We were just talking about before we got started, recording, getting close to the end of the school year, which is a stressful time, but also a very hopeful time. I've said this a lot, but I'm really looking forward to getting into the summer crew and getting to have some time to myself, get to do some mentoring and that summer vibe. So I'm doing pretty good, all things considered. The countdown, right? The countdown begins. The countdown has begun. Yeah. Or has begun. You're absolutely right. Cream, how are you doing? Good. I mean, this is one of my favorite times of the year because tony Rose as you know, same thing with you. Zach summer Institute is offered the races, which means our largest number of educators enroll in our virtual mentorship program and start learning the models. So while the school year comes to an end zack, I know you were once in this position years ago. Same thing with you. Tony Rose it is also the beginning of some of the most innovative work educators do nationwide to rethink classroom instruction. So just so many teachers, thousands of teachers getting started with our program, and so many cool innovations that our team has done to make the program better are happening right now as we speak. So session one is live, and it's incredibly exciting. It's so cool to see when it comes to life and all the educators enrolled. So I'm pumped. I'm also just personal news, getting married in two weeks. I have a big summer, and I'm moving back to DC on July 1. Zach I'll be back in our old stomping grounds in just a couple of months. So, yeah, exciting time for me, certainly. So many cool things happening. And also the engagement this session. Kareem and Zach has just been so wild. It's been so cool. I've led some workshops already and some kick off presentations, and we've had, like, hundreds of people join in. So it's been really, really, really cool getting to experience all of that and as well as getting to know educators all over the world. Yeah. You know, it's interesting. I'm not even mentoring for the first session, which is happening right now. I'm mentoring for the next two, and I'm kind of getting pulled in. Like, I'm in some of the forums responding to people, and I'm also leading a workshop tomorrow. No, actually I'm going to be on a panel for workshop tomorrow and leading some later in the summer. But yeah, even I who I'm not mentoring, I'm getting pulled in and getting some of the excitement. So it's been fun. Yeah. I mean, I think one of the coolest parts about this summer institute and Tony Rose, you've been deeply involved in the process is, like, when the movement starts to grow, there's just so many different ways to engage with educators and build community, and I think we're starting to see that come to life. So part of the reason why it's so exciting this year is there's been some structural changes to the way somewhere it's just working that just allows educators to engage with each other in so many different venues, different types of discussion groups, forums, Info sessions. And the bigger the movement gets, the more we have to offer. Like, the more expertise we have, the more specialty we have. So it's just been really cool to see the engagement already, and it's just I mean, we're like ten days in. Yeah. And Karen, you forgot social hours. So if people don't want to talk about or mentees don't want to talk about Modern Classroom, they could just pop into the social hours and have a good time getting to know each other as human beings. So it's really cool to just be able to network and to get to know each other and to just bounce ideas off of each other and also to compare and contrast the different schools that they work at and the content that they're teaching. It's been really awesome. Well, and I always say, back when the Modern Classrooms project was myself, Rob, and the eight initial fellows, like, the best PD days we had was when we just all walked in the same classroom with no agenda and just hung out. And it was like a quasi, hey, can we decompress and lean on each other because teaching is hard. And then it was also, like, us riffing on our experience in the classroom, and it was amazing how much learning was going on, because I think when you create a little bit of that unstructured time, some of the elements of the model, both strengths and challenges, just come to life more organically that may not fit really smoothly into one topic area. So I love that there's a space for people to just collaborate, connect, and just there's so many educators who operate in Silos, right? They're either the only people kind of diving into this innovation right now at their school or community. A lot of times it might be a part of really small schools and communities where they just aren't that many educators to connect with. So it is lovely to hear that folks are connecting cross state lines, cross country lines, collaborating about the model, and also creating the space to just lean on each other after what feels like a neverending series of challenging years. Yeah. And our mentors are also just so ecstatic to just be working with mentees and sharing the expertise as well as learning from their mentees. So it's just been incredible. And like you said, it's what, been two weeks? Not even two weeks. Really? Yes, I mentioned that I'm getting pulled in. I'm not even mentoring. But a mentor who works at my school connected me with one of their mentees, who is the first modern classrooms mentee that I've ever met who also teaches music in Spanish, which is exactly what I teach. Cool. The only other teacher I've ever met to teach. All right, I think it's time for me to retire. It officially happened. Zack finally got connected with a teacher who teaches the exact same. I didn't think that would ever happen, zack, I'm not going to lie to you. Honestly, I didn't either. That might be the point in time where I can say, all right, folks, I'm handing it off. That's amazing. Another teacher teaches music in Spanish. I absolutely love that. That's so cool. And I love that organically. Another mentor in your school building is facilitating that connection. That gives me the heebie. GB. That's so cool. Yeah, very cool. It's just been so much fun. I love the energy. So we'll just keep moving. We're going to wrap up our season talking about all the cool things that have happened this past season. So, Kareem, before we even get started with that, it's been a hot minute since you've been on the podcast. What have you been up to? Yeah, I mean, great question. Tony Rose. I think the biggest thing that I've been up to is just trying to listen to the ad landscape. So, I mean, I think the coolest part about my job is I get to go see a lot of classrooms in action. I get to talk to a lot of players in the system, mainly teachers, but also school and district leaders and sometimes some state leaders and other nonprofit leaders just to really understand where folks are at. Because I think at the end of the day, what makes us special is that we have our ear to the ground, like, really closely to the ground. And Tony Rose, you know this better than anyone else. You talk to so many educators every single week. And Zach, you're obviously on the ground right now working every single day in classrooms, so doing a lot of listening to really try to understand what people are ready for. And there's not a one size fits all for that, right? So it's been really interesting to kind of learn from the communities nationwide. Some schools and districts are still really rattled, particularly with the challenges of staffing. Innovation is just not quite what they're ready to digest at the moment and they're very just anxious for the summer because it's been that exhausting. You run into other schools and communities where it feels like they've kind of turned the corner on some of the tougher parts of the year and are now starting to think about, all right, teaching and learning has to look different and we know that because we saw what teaching and learning looks like for the last few years. So it's been really interesting to hear from both educators and leaders. I think one thing I'm hearing consistently is most certainly everyone's exhausted, but also students continue to be a little bit disregulated at the moment and folks are just trying to figure out how to deal with that. Just like kids just reorienting to returning back to the classroom environment and needing some of those structured kind of 21st century skills supports. So I think I'm kind of anxious to think about how we can strengthen the materials that we provide teachers to really build the routines and procedures that are really useful in a modern classroom so that the structures and systems are in place and we can support some of the executive functioning that I think kids need to be able to thrive. So lots of listening, lots of just expanding our work. It's deeply important to me that we empower as many educators as possible because every educator who wants to do this model should be able to do that. So how we can do that in a sustainable way and a productive way has been really important to me. So really excited about some of our regional expansion. We're a philanthropist of funded scholarships and regions and our new school and district partnerships. So lots of listening, lots of learning, and lots of finding ways to expand our impact. And then most of all working with folks like you, Tony Rose, and you Zach, because this organization doesn't scale without the incredible people who run it, both on the inside as full time staff members like you, Tony Rose, and as mentors like you, Zack. So it's been incredible to help grow the team and support the team because the ship doesn't move without you all. So it's been a fabulous few months. It's been a busy few months. It's been interesting a few months, but I got to say I'm the most optimistic I've been in a long time about the future of teaching and learning. I tend to be pretty optimistic in general, but I really think the 23 24 school year, actually the 22 23 school year is going to be a pretty big turning point for innovation and I think folks are going to be ready for it come August and beyond. Yeah, I completely agree with you, Karim. I'm definitely a lot more optimistic about education, but also just acknowledging the fact that the world is turning upside down right now. And so there's lots of challenges in and outside of the schools. And so I really appreciate you just saying, like, some schools aren't there yet and that's okay, they'll get there, but right now the priority is just figuring out all of these other challenges and barriers that they have at that school. So I'm excited. This team has just been so much fun to work with, and so just being able to have conversations with educators and really trying to figure out what are their biggest challenges and what are some of their biggest wins as well from the school year and what they want to take away from implementing the model, it's been such a joy. Totally. And one thing I'll add there, I think one of the most important concepts that I learned when I was becoming a teacher is this idea of zone of proximal development. What are you actually ready to digest at the moment? And I think the best leaders nationwide, school systems, understood that and understood not to push teachers in ways that wasn't going to be productive. And I think in the next year or so, we have to be really honest and thoughtful about what folks are ready for. That's both on the student and that's on the teacher and that's on the principal and that's on the instructional support. And like, you can't just throw innovation in someone's face and expect that it works because innovation is really hard. So if you're not actually in the head space to digest it, it doesn't go well. And that's why you often see folks go, I don't want this right now. And then when you keep pushing and they're not comfortable with it, it doesn't lead to good outcomes for anyone. So that's definitely the most eye opening element of some of the listening I've been doing over the course of the last six months, is just seeing how different different communities are at the moment and what they're ready for and what they're not ready for, and making sure that no one forces innovation on folks that aren't ready for it or don't want it at the moment. So I think it's really important that we keep that in mind over the course of the next year or so. Yeah, I completely agree with you. All right. And then I think with Zach and I, something that we've realized that this season is the biggest theme is a lot of our guests, their tip, their one advice for new implementers is to start out small. Right? Like what you said, innovation is so difficult. And so if you're like trying to do all three pillars of the modern classroom, it's going to be super overwhelming, especially if you're the only one who's doing this at your school. And so I really love that time and time again when we ask our guests, hey, what's your one piece of advice? It's always been start out small. Start out with something that you think you can do really well and then add on. But for right now, just start small. Yeah, I think we're about to start talking about this past season and wrap it up, but I'm really glad that we started with self pacing. I think that I've told this story before, but remember, Kareem, that I came to visit your math class the school year before I took the Modern Classrooms training, and I went back to school because that was on a Friday. And so I got back to school in the afternoon and I had already made a little, like, makeshift pacing tracker with a bunch of boxes, and students had to write their names in the lessons that they had finished. And I realized, like, wow, my students are just all over the map. I literally got back to school on Friday and I had them write their name under the box of the step that they were working on in the project. And I was like, my students are just all over the map. And so that data just opened my eyes to this. And I think that that was me starting small. I hadn't thought about it that way until now, but just starting with a pacing tracker is enough. And so I'm really happy that we started with self pacing because I kind of feel like and I've said this before that like everything that I use blended instruction, instructional videos, mastery based assessment, all of it is to allow kids to learn the stuff. And by that I mean to take the time that they need to really internalize and master stuff. And so starting small is great. And I think that starting with a pacing tracker is a great small first step. And it just occurred to me that I did that. Thank you for mentioning that because I think it's a great takeaway from the season and also just a great tip in general, a common tip. Well, and what I'd say, too, is starting small is different for everybody. For me, starting small was like, I couldn't wrap my head around how to do a part of the model, so I did the whole model, but I only did in one prep and I just planned one unit. And then when it went really well, I was like, all right, I'm doing all my units this way, and I don't think I roll it out until the other courses for at least a few units. In other folks, starting small is like, hey, I'm going to do just one week of self paced learning. Just one week and see where it goes. In your case, Zach, it was getting a little bit of a flavor of self pacing just by getting a temperature check on where kids are at and kind of leveraging a pacing tracker. So I really think anyone who's doing the model starting small doesn't actually mean not rolling out the model in full, but it might mean doing it in a truncated way to get kind of a temperature check on what is useful and what's not useful. I think the biggest advice I always hear when folks say start small is get ready to what they're really saying is get ready to iterate like, get ready to innovate because you're not going to just come out the gates and rock. That doesn't make any sense. Right. You have to have time to really iterate on the model and improve it. So I think it's really good advice, and I'm not surprised folks continue to bring it up, and I'm really glad that you brought that up to Kareem. I was fortunate enough to go through the fellowship with another mentor. So I know you all know Emily Kolb. She's one of my favorite people, and I don't think that I would have been able to jump in using the entire model without her. So this is something that I've always told people to, is find your teacher bestie so that you can bounce ideas off of each other and then you could push each other as well. Because I'm super grateful for Emily just being there so that we can plan together, create resources together, and really just try it all out. Like, all in, all three pillars all in for the entire school year. And because we implemented it for the entire school year, we were able to figure out different ways that the model worked for us. Right. For middle school English and so the Reiteration, we revised it so many times, but it was really cool because that was experience. That was a lot of experience within a school year. And the students were just, like, having a blast with it. Like, oh, this is changing, that's cool. Oh, this is changing, that's cool. And they just kind of went along with it and it was so cool. I love it. I love it. All right, so with that great transition, right? So this season we had 21 episodes. We published 21 episodes. We have ten featured episodes about self pacing, five implementer, Spotlights, and we added a Q and A for each month. So we had a total of 24 guests this season. Thank you all so much. For 24 guests ranging from first grade to post secondary implementers. So, Zach, what were some of the takeaways that you had this season? Wow. Yeah, I was sort of already getting at this. I think that self pacing is really the reason that I'm still doing this. Not lecturing is nice and it's less stressful to teach now, but in terms of teaching and learning, in terms of really student learning, self pacing is why I still do this. I think it's the best way to teach my content to my students, because that day when I went back and I saw that my kids were all on different steps of the project and I was like, wow, how do I help them? Only one of me, the instructional videos made it so I could basically copy myself and teach the different lessons to all the different kids. But then how do I make sure that they actually learned it before they move on? Maybe they'll just watch the video and just breeze right through everything and get to the end of the unit. Well, mastery checks, right? The pieces fall into place for me around self pacing, and I think that a lot of that was reinforced and confirmed for me this season. Hearing people talking about self pacing and focusing on self pacing so much from so many different angles and in so many different contexts, right. Giving students the time that they need to learn something, which is a different amount of time for every student, obviously is just so important. It's true differentiation. I can keep saying all the buzzwords, but I heard my own thoughts echoed in the things that we and our guests said throughout the whole season and that was very reassuring for me. Another takeaway that I had specifically on the episode on self pacing, misconceptions and the episode that I hosted with Charlie on Troubleshooting self pacing, those two episodes gave me a pretty good sense of the very common challenges that teachers have with self pacing. And it made me feel like if you're struggling with self pacing, you're not alone. Right. There are very common challenges that we go through as we're trying to implement self pacing and common solutions as well. And so there's a very large knowledge base. There's like a wealth of knowledge now in the podcast and also in the other teachers who have gone through the mentorship program. If you're in Summer Institute, there are teachers who are trying it out, talk to other teachers who have tried self pacing because the challenges are similar across the board, I think, at least in broad ways, and there are solutions out there that work. So that was another takeaway for me. I've been teaching this way now for almost three full years, so I've had a lot of time to kind of ruminate on self pacing and develop my own sort of like thoughts on it. And like I was saying, I really just liked hearing those thoughts echoed in what our guests were saying because it made me feel like I'm doing it right. It made me feel like we're all in this together and self pacing is hard, but it's important that we do this and it's working. So those were my takeaways on the self pacing season. Yeah. And I just really appreciated the fact that we focused on probably our hardest pillar of the model. Right. So self pacing is, like you said, super challenging. There's not one right way to do it, there's multiple right ways to do it. And so having conversations with guests who have had experience just experimenting with self pacing has been such a joy for me. I think. For me, I really just love the fact that our listeners gave us feedback and said, hey, we need more elementary voices. And we made that happen. Zack it was really cool that we had an elementary teacher for almost every featured episode that we had, and then a couple of our spotlights as well had elementary teachers. And so for me, as a middle school teacher, it was really nice to kind of see what our younger learners are doing, especially hearing from Kala, who teaches six year olds and using Canvas as an LMS, that was so cool to me. And then having conversations with Allison about cognitive science as well, and how all of it aligns with everything that we're doing with this model. It's just been such a great way to learn. It's another perspective for me. We also even had a CTE teacher, Evan, who's super engaged in the Facebook group. And just having those connections and allowing not allowing, but encouraging them to share their stories and elevating their voices has just been so great, and our listeners really appreciate that. So if you have any feedback again, right, like, go to email us at podcast@moderncostrooms.org. We really do try to implement the feedback that you provide for us. Yeah, just on that point I've mentioned before, this is kind of behind the scenes, but Tony Rose and I meet every Thursday and talk about the podcast specifically, and that has come up in our meetings. We did this very intentionally, specifically, the elementary teachers. We were like, we have to have elementary voices, especially on certain types of episodes. But we've done that based on feedback we've gotten from listeners. So if there's something that you'd like to hear more from, maybe different teaching contexts, maybe different types of classes, please feel free to reach out because we really do. Obviously, we read the emails and we take that into account as we're planning our guests for episodes and our outlines for episodes. Well, I'll just add I love that you all did a season on self pacing because I've always said that the blended learning component is the flashy part, but the self pacing piece is the most important and challenging component. I also think the self pacing piece is the piece that's the most underdeveloped in the education landscape. It's kind of shocking to me how many organizations, companies even like research institutions, talk about self pacing but don't provide any granular structures that teachers can use to execute in their classrooms. So I just am proud to hear how many folks talk about it, how folks are authentically addressing the challenges of it. It's not supposed to be easy. It's really starting to make the dent that we need to make. And thinking about this idea of meeting kids where they're at. And the reality is, like, our larger education system isn't set up for it, right? We're still putting kids in rooms based off of age, not based off of what they actually need and all that kind of stuff. But the reality is every educator who infuses self pacing within the constraints of traditional teaching and learning and old school systems are really moving the needle for folks to start thinking differently about instruction and thinking differently about how you meet students needs, where they're at. And then the second piece there is I still remember to this day hopping in my car and training the first round of elementary educators out in Pennsylvania. Shout out to Bellwood and his school district. And it is just so exciting to see how many elementary educators are implementing our model and sharing their experience. Because my least favorite critique, and I think Zach and I have talked about this on a much older podcast episode, is this idea that students that are younger aren't developmentally ready to be in a student centered classroom. Nothing makes me more frustrated than hearing that. So I'm so glad that you all went out there and elevated the voices of elementary educators because it debunks that fundamental myth that I think is really destructive. And we talk about holding kids to high expectations. I think that's one of the most important examples of that is believing that kids can be in a student centered learning environment. Shout out to both of you for listening to listeners and creating the space for those ideas to be shared at scale. I mean, it's been so much fun, right? It's good to get feedback just so that we're aware of what we're lacking. And so, again, thank you all listeners for providing that for us. So great segue zach, what can listeners expect from the podcast this summer and fall? I mean, this is our last this is our closing episode for this season. So what can listeners expect? Yeah, so for the summer, we have already started talking about Virtual Summer Institute. I am going to start mentoring Tony Rose. You're very busy. So for the summer, we're going to take our feet off the gas just a little bit, and we are going to publish an episode every week. Some of them are going to be previous episodes that we republish that were popular. But we do have two new episodes planned that will come out throughout the summer. So keep checking. We'll put the episodes up and that will be until the end of July, and then starting in August will be starting our next season. So we're planning some partnerships with some really cool guests that we'll talk about later in the summer. And rather than doing one sort of overarching theme for the entire season, we're going to do monthly themes. So there will be, again, two feature episodes based on each month's theme every month. And then we'll have a spotlight like we always have kind of just like a regular interview show like the old school podcast Kareem, when you and I used to just get a teacher on and talk to them about their class. And then we're going to plan on having a special feature each month as well, so that will be new. And that's some of the exciting stuff that we'll be announcing later. And we will have one Q and A in October. So that's just sort of how we're thinking about the structure of the podcast for the next several months. Another cool thing, well, something that Zach and I have noticed as well with the Q and A episode every month, that a lot of the questions are very similar. And so we had decided to be more intentional with the Q and A. And so we're just going to have one for October. But of course, if you have any questions, please reach out to us. We will definitely respond to you or give you a shout out on the podcast. Another thing that we're doing, because you listeners are great with feedback, we didn't have a lot of AP teacher voices in our podcast. So we're going to be super intentional and providing you with more AP teacher voices just so that you have that experience and you have that perspective as well. And we're super pumped about that. And again, I'm really excited about this. I made the schedule look all pretty because I was so stoked about it. But our 100th episode is also coming up, which is wild. 100 episodes. Completely crazy. I believe that. 100 episodes. I cannot believe that. Zach, I still remember when you were like, hey, I think we should do a podcast. And I was like, hey, yeah, why not? And we were a tiny little organization. To believe that this has been going for 100 episodes is so cool. I'm so pumped about that. Yeah, I can't believe it either. We haven't taken a week off in a long time, and I think that they were like two or three weeks at the very beginning of the run of the podcast that we didn't publish an episode, but we've basically had an episode every week. And so we passed two years at this point. So man, it's just amazing. I guess it's been like a time warp, this whole pandemic. It's so strange. I've gotten into the groove of editing these every week and sometimes being on them. I love this. It's one of my favorite things that I do. So thank you both. I guess thank you to the listeners too. We wouldn't be doing this if people didn't download it and listen to it and reach out to us with questions and comments and stuff. The listeners, obviously are the reason that we're here. And so thank you to anyone who's listening. It means a lot to me personally because I love this part of my job. I'm really excited about it and also just really impressed with the fact that Wow 100 episode is already coming up. So get excited for that. We have something really cool for you all. Well, I'm excited moving in. I mean, next year. You all have done just an outrageously amazing job at leading the podcast, and I think I'm going to be a little bit more available moving into next year to be able to pop on to more podcast episodes. I've missed being on here and I'm excited once we get into the fall and starting off with that 100th episode to be engaging at least once a month or once every couple of months on these podcasts and hopefully being able to bring some special guests, some thought leaders in the space. We've been working on supporting educators through building student centered instruction and blended learning for years. So I'm really excited about this next season after the summer. All right, so Cream, anything else that we want to share we need to share? Anything about VSI. Anything else really? I think the main thing is we've moved to seasonal virtual membership cohorts. So the folks that are interested in our virtual mentorship program, there's going to be the summer session that wraps up. Then there's going to be an October session for the fall, the winter session that starts in January, and the spring session that starts in March. So we used to run it a little bit differently, but now we're moving to a seasonal model, so that's the first thing to know in those sessions should be out and available, particularly the fall for registration. We'll also be opening up the Distinguished Modern Classroom Educator Credential application again in the fall, which will be exciting, and that's how we cultivate our teacher leaders. And then once you become a DMC, you can always apply to be a mentor. So it's a really awesome program. So I encourage folks to be on the lookout. And the last thing I'd say is our favorite thing about Summer Institute is not only do we train extraordinary amount of educators, we bring a huge number of educators into the community, but then we also learn so much about the needs of educators to the feedback that we gather. So I'd expect some cool new tutorials, webinars and resources that start to come to life into the fall and winter just because that's the time where we gather all the feedback from folks, then apply it to really building the resources that teachers need. So, yeah, stay on the lookout. Keep reading Rob Sunday emails that often times tease some of the cool stuff that's coming your way. Yes, we're going to continue to innovate and figure out how to meet teachers needs as much as we can throughout the next year. Speaking of Rob, I want to mention he just told me something that I didn't know, which is that you can apply to become a DMcE without having been through the Virtual mentorship program 100%. Yeah. So if you're a podcast listener and you haven't been through the mentorship program, but you have an awesome modern classroom that you're rocking, a pacing tracker and you've got the instructional videos and you know how to use a puzzle and all the stuff you can apply. And the other cool thing about DMC is that the application has an opportunity for you to revise. Yeah, thousand percent. I mean, A, we just don't believe in enforcing a paywall behind our resources, but also like teacher leadership. If you do our model beautifully, we really don't actually care how you learned it. You could have learned it from a colleague, you could have learned it from the free course, you could have learned it from the Virtual Mentorship program. There's a million different ways you could have kind of figured out the model. And all that DMC application is about is showing competency, like showing your capacity to execute. So there is not an insubstantial number of educators, a very large chunk of educators who never went through our virtual membership program who are now DMCs and then become mentors. I think the most consistent and clear pathway there is through the virtual mentorship program because you get to lean on the expertise of a mentor when you're learning the model. But there are plenty of educators who did not go through that experience that are now DMCs and mentors. And it's fabulous to see that. Yeah, it's kind of like how I tell my students that if they pass the mastery check, I don't care if they watch the Ed puzzle, the instructional video, I like how that value is reflected at every level of the organization. Yeah. And I was also just going to add, I think the most powerful thing about the application is that you get to reflect as a teacher, right. You get to tell that story. And I think this is something Kareem that you and I have talked about, too. It's like with the DMC application, you really do get to tell your story and reflect on your teaching practices. Because I think sometimes as educators, we don't have those opportunities or time or space to reflect on what we've been doing. So definitely check it out. Well, and it's also by far the most engaging parts of the DMC application to read. And it's the piece where it becomes most clear that an educator is implementing the model. Because you can submit a pacing tracker, instructional video and a mastery Check without having ever implemented the modern classrooms approach. Right. But it's the storytelling element that makes it come to life. When I meet with educators to learn about their journeys, it doesn't matter to me that the DMCs and mentors before meeting them because once I start asking questions and hearing about their experience, that's when I really get a feel for the fact that they've been implementing and doing it so wonderfully. So that storytelling piece is so important. It's our favorite part about those applications. Awesome. I think that's it for us. So thank you, Kareem, for joining me. And Zach, it's always a pleasure to have you around. Listeners, remember, you can always email us at podcast@modernclassrooms.org and you can find the show Notes for this episode at podcast modernclassrooms.org 91. We'll have this episode's recap and transcript uploaded to the Modern Classrooms blog on Friday, so be sure to check there or check back in the Show Notes for this episode if you'd like to access those. That's right. So thank you all so much for listening. Again, have a great week. Next Sunday, we'll be back with an episode from the archive, but we'll be back throughout the summer, so keep an eye on that feed. And yes, woohoo season one time. Thanks for welcoming me on, folks. Bye bye.


Voiceover: 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 modernclassproj, that's P-R-O-J. We are so appreciative of all you do for students and schools. Have a great week and we'll be back next Sunday with another episode of the Modern Classrooms Project Podcast.