From Pencils to Pixels: Worcester's "Spark Academy" Embraces Technology

Classrooms these days look far different than they did even just 10 years ago. Instead of pencils, overhead projectors and chalkboards, you'll find tablets, interactive whiteboards and laptops. Tech experts say innovative technologies in the classroom are here to say, including artificial intelligence. Dr. Sarah Kyriazis, Principal of the Wawecus Road School in Worcester, joins the show this week to talk about their new "Spark Academy" program, which hopes to create a "future-ready hub of innovation" at the school.

Episode Transcript

(00:07):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston.This is New England Weekend where each week
we come together we talk about allthe topics important to you and the place
where you live. It's so goodto be back with you again this week.
I'm Nicole Davis. Back in theday, when you were in elementary
school, what was the coolest thingthat you could have brought to class?
I remember when I started elementary schoolback in the late eighties and early nineties,

(00:31):
the thing was anything Lisa Frank related. If you don't know what that
is, give it a quick google. You've probably seen them. It's all
these bright pink and shiny notebooks andpencils and whatnot. Everything had to be
Lisa Frank related. And also atrapper Keeper too, which oddly enough they
brought back recently and I actually boughtone because why not nostalgia? Right that

(00:56):
being said, you know, backin the day, I had no clue
with a mobile phone was. Wedidn't even have a computer in the classroom
at that point. AI was somethingout of a horror movie. But you
fast forward now to twenty twenty threeand kids heading to class it is a
whole new world and they've got tabletsand laptops, and they don't have blackboards
anymore. It's interactive whiteboards and virtualreality quiz programs. All this stuff,

(01:22):
including artificial intelligence, which tech expertssay is here to stay, and it's
one of several innovative technologies that JenAlpha, the youngest of us here,
is going to have to learn tocorral, just like the rest of us.
Over in the Worcester Public School District, they're embracing this wholeheartedly at a
brand new Spark Academy. It's anelementary school they call a future ready Hub

(01:42):
of Innovation. So what that means, let's find out. Doctor Sarah Curiazaz
is the principle at this school.She's also the district's director of Educational Technology.
Doctor, thank you so much forthe time. I appreciate you coming
on the show. My first questionto you, as an educator, what
are your thoughts on all this technologylike phones and tablets and whatnot impacting just

(02:05):
everyday life in the classroom. Well, I think I think all of us
kids and adults are distracted by Iknow I am all the time, I
carry two phones, so I thinkthere there is distractions. So and there's
even more distractions with the earbuds,because at least with the phone, you
can kind of, you know,put it down, go with the earbuds.
In my own house with my ownchildren, I'm like, you know,

(02:29):
you're yelling their name and they don'tlisten. So so it does it
does lead to, you know,some difficulty in the classroom, but we
try to manage it. My philosophyis if you have really engaging content and
hands on projects and building relationships,that they won't want to be on their
phones, right because learning is social, so but it is it is a

(02:51):
it is a struggle, and andso we're always trying to find new ways
to have students, you know,not have their cell phones on them all
the time. And I'm sure thatat times it's kind of like a helpless
cause, but you know, andit's one of those things where I think,
you know, having children who areso in tune with the digital world,
right, they don't they don't remembernecessarily what it was like for those

(03:13):
of us who had to be likeshoved outside to go play in trees and
mud when we were a kid,or like when TV used to sign off
at night. And so when Ithink about something like artificial intelligence, how
do you feel that AI and thisgeneration are going to merge. So we've
been doing a lot with our olderstudents around like not using artificial intelligence,

(03:36):
but the concept behind it. Whatis it, how does it work?
How is it being built? Youknow, the how they already have it
on their cell phones and and withadults as well, and the I go
through this whole presentation about when Iwent to college in nineteen ninety four,
what I brought. We have acomputer, you know, I didn't have

(04:00):
a cell phone. Those didn't exist, so I computers did, but not
cell phones. And so just goingthrough when I tell the kids, this
is the year nineteen ninety four,and when I went to college, you
know, I brought a map,a calculator, a dictionary and it's psychop
like all those things we bring whenwe when we went to college in those
years. And I say to thekids, this is year nineteen ninety four

(04:23):
where people are talking about AI likeit's this you know, really far away
thing. And that's how we weretalking about the Internet when we found out
about it, Like what is theact sign? What is it? Yeah,
I just saw the Beanie Babies movie. It's so good. And they

(04:45):
and they talk about you know,the Beanie Babies were like the first first
company to use it was a collegestudent that was an intern to use you
know, for commerce, to totalk to promote the products. So so
I say to the kids, likeAI seems into the staff. AI seems
so different, so far off,Like we don't know, you know,

(05:09):
what the future is going to hold, but at some point it's going to
become so common like the Internet isto us now that we don't even think
about it, and it's just goingto become ingrained and things like you know,
when you when you know, Netflixrecommends like what movies you might like
based on in the past. That'sartificial intelligence, secy Google you Google maps

(05:30):
when it says, oh you shouldgo a different route, like all that
is already artificial intelligence. We kindof frame it in that mind. Now
with the new artificial intelligence that's comingout with chat, GPT, these large
language models. I think the reasonwhy so many people are so nervous about
it is because it's happening so fastand it generates new things every time.

(05:51):
So we talk about that, Wetalk about you know, some human beings
had to put I had decide whatgoes in and what doesn't go in,
so there's bias there and there's biascoming out. There's bias of the people
that ask a question. So wetalk a lot about ethics. We're just
starting to talk to students about thisand just starting to develop professional learning for

(06:14):
teachers around it. So we're atthe very beginning of this. Yeah,
I feel like they're in nineteen ninety, like you know, our nineteen ninety
four where we're like, what's theInternet? Yeah, And I agree wholeheartedly
because I think a lot of usare just really talking about this seriously for
the first time. Technology, evenin yours, in my life, has

(06:34):
grown so quickly and I can't evenimagine if somebody was born in like nineteen
thirty five. They're looking at everythinglike what happened here? You know,
and you know if it's going tobe like Star Trek when the kids in
your school right now are our age. But either way, I mean,
these are important conversations we need tostart to have because this technology is here

(06:55):
whether we like it or not,and it will impact how our children learn.
And in that I see that you'vegot this new Spark Academy, which
is super exciting. Where did theidea come for for this whole thing.
So a few things. So atthe district level, we were doing work
with our new superintendent around you knowwhat's what's some type of like mission statement

(07:19):
that can bring all of the districtoffices together. So like I'm on the
teaching and learning side, but youknow that transportation can buy into that,
it can buy into that, youknow, nutrition that everyone custodians, like
every member that supports the school andthe student can understand. So we can't
this a really lengthy like statement likebe the spark that ignites the DA DA

(07:42):
And so then someone on the facilityside goes, why can't we just do
like be the spark, and soeveryone's like, oh, yeah, we
could. Then you could be like, you know, be the spark that
the students see the first thing inthe morning, or be the spark that
nourishes students. So that's how thewhole spark idea came about. So then
we have a program called Eye Teachershere where we have over one hundred teachers

(08:05):
that are Google certified trainers. Mostdistricts have one if they're lucky, we
have a hundred of them and theyreally we trained them and they train their
teachers in our fifty schools to usetechnology. And this started happening about six
years ago when we started doing this, so it was perfect timing when the

(08:26):
pandemic came because we had all theteacher teachers that could train their peers.
So we kept saying to ourselves,Okay, like everyone has like these basic
skills, we have devices now forevery student. How do we get to
the next level? How do weget to deeper learning? A lot of
school districts are asking these same questions. I go to national conferences all technology

(08:50):
directors around the country and around theworld, and everyone's like, how do
we get to the next level wherewe're really integrating technology into the curriculum so
it's seamless, so it's not ashard as it, you know, seems
it's difficult to do with some things. And I was talking to a principle

(09:11):
and with my team of district thetechnology coaches who were were all teachers before.
We were doing all this brainstorming likewhat's the next big thing? I
teachers were so profound. Some ofmy dissertation was written about it. You
know, I presented nationally and internationallyon like what's the next big thing?
We couldn't we couldn't think about likethe next thing to do. And I

(09:35):
was talking to a principle and she'slike, I just we really need examples
of how you know, we reallyneed examples of how this would work.
And so we kind of played aroundwith that, and at the same time,
we're working on this vision of alearner, which are five overarching skills
and dispositions that we want every oneof our students to graduate with critical they're

(09:58):
called problem solver, cure learner,empowered individual, effective communicator, and engage
community member. And so what wedecided was to do something called spark teachers.
So it's kind of like the nextiteration of the eye teachers, where
the eye teachers are professional their jobwas to train their colleagues. These teachers,

(10:20):
their job is to be teachers thatstart to incorporate the different indicators of
the vision of a learner, whichis, you know, future ready instruction
into their classrooms on a daily basis. So as I was explaining, you

(10:41):
know, what we want to doto the assistant superintendent and then the superintendent,
they came back and they said,well, what if we do this
with the whole school and hear themoh yeah. So so we have the
Spark School. It's while weakest roadschool, it's the smallest elementary school Wooster,
but it's representative of our entire city. And so our team is kind

(11:07):
of leading this work here and thenwe're leading it also with teachers throughout the
district that are Spark teachers. Theyare all Spark teachers, and so they're
gonna they are getting together for professionaldevelopment and they're going to be starting to
rewrite lessons and try new things intheir lessons and see if they work.
And you know, we're doing researchon it and all of those good things

(11:30):
to start to spread this out tothe districts. So that's that's what the
Spark program is. And it's it'snot like the teachers will be using like
AI to help write lesson plans maybeyou know, as like a first prompt
or just to kind of be thoughtpartners. We might be looking at like
programs that we already own that mightbe incorporating you know, curriculum apps and

(11:54):
software that might be incorporating AI,to see how that works and if we
can bring an in or not.It's not like we're sitting there teaching kids
like chat GPT. We don't dothat because there's no data privacy on it.
You have to think there's there's lawsaround that. But we are,
you know, with the advent ofartificial intelligence and in these large language models

(12:18):
and their destruction to things like thebar exam and the medical boards and all
those things, we need to teachdifferently. Our kids need to experience and
do hands on and have opportunities toexperience education, not just to sit and
read a book and learn about it. Yeah. So, so it's it's

(12:43):
a lot of people think like,oh, you're doing AI. It's not
about that. It's it's we needto change education because technology is changing the
way we live and work. I'msure you're going to have people who say,
well, if you're leaning so muchon computers and AI and all this
other stuff, you know, whatabout the true education they need to get,
the reading, writing, and arithmetic, And how are you going to

(13:05):
make sure that all the basic skillsthat kids normally get in elementary school,
and you know, on top ofthat, the social skills they normally get
an elementary school, how are yougoing to make sure those are all integrated
with this new program? So theyou know, the the standards of the
standards. We teach math standards,we teach ELA standards. They're you know,

(13:26):
Massachusetts in the common core. Weare still teaching the standards. Kids
are still gonna, you know,learn how to read and learn how to
do math, but they're also gonnahave experiences that go along with that.
So and it might and it's notall technology based, right, And we're
going to use technology not all thetime, but when it's appropriate. So

(13:48):
for example, if they are readingour new ELA curriculum, it's a core
language art, so it also hassome knowledge trans or some social studies in
science. So if they're learning aboutsomething in science and they're learning about it
in English, then why can't theythen do a podcast about it? Why

(14:09):
can't they write and then do apodcast about it. So like in our
Spark lab in our new school,we're gonna have a podcasting station. We're
gonna have like a green screen station. We're gonna have robots, we're gonna
have hands on you know, makerthings. We have these little tools where
you can like they're screws for cardboards, So like, why can't they build
a house to go along with whatthey're learning. So it's it's it's just

(14:33):
taking things to a deeper level.So they're experiencing if they're you know,
if they read as if they're readinga story about you know, broadcasters like
I can't they get online and beinterviewed or interviewed some we're going to get
on the radio. So it's it'sthose types experience connecting them to the content
in the real world and then topeople beyond their school. That is so

(14:58):
cool. I kind of wish thestuff had been around when, you know,
when you and I were kids,Like we were just sitting there reading
the textbook that six other kids hadhad before us with are all all their
names in the back of it,And it's just it's incredible to me to
see how education is changing at sucha rapid pace. How are you as
a teacher, as an administrator keepingup with these changes? How difficult is

(15:22):
that? Yeah, it's it's alot. The technology. The district technology
team, part of their role isto keep up with technology. So all
of us, although I didn't havetime to do it, the rest of
them did enrolled in Artificial Intelligence andEducation course this summer. That was fifteen

(15:45):
hours. We go to conferences,we're on list service. So a lot
of what we do is keep upwith the research and try to do it
ahead of everyone else so that wecan we can curate the resources, discern
you know, just because if someoneputs up it out says you're an education
expert, doesn't mean it's necessarily true, right, So we discern her and
we go through that, We doall the research, pull it all together,

(16:07):
decide what is appropriate for our district, and then that's what we that's
what we you know, push outto our to our staff. And it
takes time, and it takes expertise, and sometimes people confuse, like our
team with it, although we doknow how to fix printers and computers and
things. It's it's they're all,you know, teachers with master's degrees that

(16:33):
that understand the education and the curriculumand instruction and then also understand technology.
So it's literally the most fun jobI think, And I love how excited
you are about this. I cansee, you know, if you're listening
here on the radio, you can'tsee her, but her smile is pretty
big, and it's just you know, this obviously brings you joy and excitement

(16:55):
to kind of take this whole schoolof kids into this whole next level.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it'sreally exciting the kids come Monday, but
I've done a couple tours with familiesthat are looking at it from other districts
and then from other schools within thedistrict. Then the second the kids walk
into the Spark lab, their eyesare like like can we touch that?
I'm like, we have flexible seating. I'm like, go sit on the

(17:17):
floor, grab a book or graba robot. You know. So the
first line of the job description forthe Eye teachers, I mean for the
Spark teachers is spark joy in theclassroom because I think we need to bring
joy back in the classroom. Andthat's coming up, that's popping up around
the country. You're seeing more peopleuse that word. And that's going to

(17:41):
be tough coming out of the pandemicwhen a lot of teachers went through a
lot of tough stuff from from families, from the districts, from everything.
So, I mean, are youfinding that the teachers and administrators have the
energy to do this or is thissomething that you're using to essentially fuel yourselves
to get back to where you'd been. Yeah, I think last year it
was you know, last year itwas. It was a tough year.

(18:04):
The you know, political landscape towardsteaching is not you know, not great.
You know, the teachers have avery very very hard job. I
think people are ready we've gone overthis vision of a learner with our our
principles or our new teachers. Peopleare really excited because it if you read

(18:26):
some of like the I CAN statementsthat we were going to start working on,
it's you know, it's things thatconnect the social emotional experience. They
connect, you know, hands on. So I think people really are kind
of buying into it. One ofthem under curious learner in CATA too is

(18:48):
I can talk about my strengths,interests, and talents as they relate to
my learning experiences. And that wasone that I really really wanted in there
because I feel like if if someonelike whether it be an adult or a
child, find something that they reallylove to do, they can make a
career out of it. They canmake you know, a life out of
it. And I think it's reallyimportant for children to know what they like

(19:11):
and to know what their strengths are, and to know what their talents are
and to use those to understand,you know, to read, to learn
how to read, to learn howto do math, and things like that.
So I think I think that bythe time that particular one gets up
to nine through twelve, it saysI can articulate why a learning experience feels

(19:33):
meaningful, joyful, and or connectedto my purpose passion, and I can
describe how I'll use my strengths andinterests. And I think that's employers are
looking for, you know, AndI think just in general, adults as
adults going into the workforce being youknow, respectful community members that care about

(19:56):
each other. We want want ourstudents, we want our population to have
to be curious learners, to knowthemselves, to know what they like to
do, what they don't like todo. So people can really connect to
these on a human level. Butit's a lot of work. It's not
easy to like. It takes avillage, literally a whole school village,

(20:19):
and then something, oh well,this is really encouraging. I'm super excited
to see how this year goes foryou over at the Spark Academy. So
yeah, thank you good bye fora visit. Yeah, I'd love to,
and radio hosts do visits, butwell, you've clearly got the studios
for me to come by so I'mhonest, but yeah, no, doctor,

(20:41):
this has been great. Thank youso much for the overview and all
the best in this school year.Thanks have a safe and healthy holiday weekend,
and please join me again next weekfor another edition of the show.
I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News Radioon iHeartRadio.