February 5, 2024 • 16 mins
In this episode of the oneSMFC podcast, Superintendent Ochoa is joined by two rock star teachers, Ms. Lang and Ms. Dixon, and the Director of Curriculum and Instruction for Elementary Schools, Pam Bartfield.
Our educators dive into the spirit of collaboration that's reshaping our approach to teaching by highlighting how our teachers have been revolutionizing the way our students learn how to read.
Our conversation is an intimate look at the supportive teaching environment we cherish, highlighting the resilience required to foster educational triumphs that aren't always immediately measurable, but with the right systems, can see the results we expect.
Interested in learning more? Check out our recent On the Road to Year 3 Annual Report!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
But now it feels good to have our district all on the
same page.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I see teachers more comfortable.
I see teachers making it theirown.
I see teachers knowing here'swhere.
This is where my, because ofthis program, because of what I
know, I can see where mystudents are and where I need to
take them.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
It's really exciting to be able to learn from each
other, share what we know.
Looking forward to it.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for being
with us again.
My name is Diego Ochoa, I'msuperintendent of the San Mateo
Foster City School District andI'm delighted to have you join
us today on the One SMFC Podcast.
This is a program that we puttogether in our school district.
We try to invite teachers,administrators, parents and, if
(00:57):
you go back into our archives,even students that we've
interviewed actually, one fromone of our guests today their
school and these podcasts arejust really wonderful
opportunities for us to connectwith our families.
And we don't do it alone.
We bring people into the studioand we have a conversation
(01:17):
about the things that matter tous and the things that are going
on in our school district.
And I'm joined by three reallyawesome colleagues.
I'm going to let introducethemselves, starting with Hi
everybody, I am Pam Bartfield.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
I'm the director of curriculum and instruction,
working with our elementaryschools.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
You're also kind of a famous podcast guest, right.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
I feel like I am.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
How many podcasts is this for you?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Well, it's got to be around 10.
It's a lot, I don't know.
It's a lot.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
You've been on a lot of these.
I had somebody mention that tome.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
Who is this Pam person?
Why is she on the?
I'm the director of curriculum.
We're an education organization.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
I wasn't considering getting a manager, but I think
we're okay.
You know where to find me.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
Yeah, or a publicist, publicist.
Start with the publicistbecause, then you build up your
persona.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
True, true.
Then when you start bookingmore gigs, isn't there a whole
industry behind that.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
It's a whole world, all right.
Well, it's not just the two ofus.
Who else is here with us, hi?
Speaker 1 (02:14):
I'm Jill Lange.
I'm a first grade teacher atAudubon Elementary School in
Foster City.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
What a lovely school.
We were just there yesterday,yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
We had some people come into my room.
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
I had to leave because I wanted to be able to
visit lead.
I started my day at Audubon andvisited.
You have a fifth grade teacher,I think is it Ms Fredrickson?
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Doing an awesome job with her math lesson.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Oh wow, like I took a group of kids with me to visit.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
You saw them yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
I was one of your former students and Sierra
student that went to Foster Cityand they just came away saying,
wow, the way we're teachingmath at elementary school is
just the total eye-opener.
They both said we wish we hadbeen taught math like this.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah, yeah, I saw them and a lot of people there.
It was really nice you had somecommunity members and board
members and students.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
We had the chief of police.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Yeah, I heard that.
You know when.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
I met her.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
I knew the old chief of police, but not this one.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Tracy Avalard, chief of police.
She's just the most delightfulperson you ever want to meet
Well, I actually.
She's good.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Yeah, I worked with her a little bit when we had
community readers.
Yes, remember, you came toAudubon also and we had our
community readers, which, by theway, anytime you want.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
I had the best time reading at Audubon, yeah.
The teachers were kind of likeyou really got into this, diego.
I said, yeah, yeah, I used todo this.
I used to do this all the time,yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
It was nice.
It was nice.
We'll hopefully do it againnext year.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
Yeah, and thanks for being with us today.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
There's still one more with us.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
I am Tara Dixon.
I teach first grade at FosterCity Elementary School in Foster
City.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
Yeah, and that's you know what do we call it?
That's the biggest school inthe district.
At one point I used to tellyour principal I said one out of
every 10 kids in our schooldistrict goes to Foster City
Elementary School, did they?
Speaker 3 (04:12):
not know that the?
Speaker 4 (04:13):
ratio got.
Yeah, it got to that point.
I said well, and it's gone downa little bit because we opened
up a new school in Foster City,but thank you for joining us and
, as you all know, we have anevent coming up here February
8th.
We're really excited about itand it's an event that we wanted
to put together to reallyinvite our colleagues from
(04:35):
around the peninsula to come andvisit our schools.
It's the first grade teachersliteracy summit.
We're hosting it and we havefolks coming from Pam.
Do you remember all thedistricts?
Speaker 2 (04:46):
I know it's 11 different districts.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
So I know we have Hillsborough.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Redwood City, pacifica, santa Cruz, san Bruno,
hayward, monterey.
We have a district fromMonterey coming.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
We sent some invitations across the bay.
I think Hayward is coming.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Hayward.
A couple of others are coming.
The two of you have been ineducation for many years.
Have you had teachers fromother districts come and visit
your classrooms before?
Speaker 1 (05:17):
I have not.
I find it to be really exciting.
I love going to otherclassrooms and having other
people come here and just havingthat community of you.
Know it doesn't matter whatdistrict you're with, we're just
all working together, doingwith the same goal.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
It's the same for me.
I have not, but I think it'sreally exciting to be able to
learn from each other, sharewhat we know.
Looking forward to it.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
So let me pose it to you as like pick a word Exciting
, or anxious, or curious.
How would you?
What's the feeling you mosthave going into this?
Speaker 3 (05:53):
I think inspiring just to learn from our
colleagues in this district andshare what we've been working so
hard over the last year and ahalf.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
Yeah, I mean you're at Foster City.
We have 16 elementary schools.
How often do teachers from Parkor from Laurel or from George
Hall get to come and watch youteach?
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Not that often, but no, yeah, I mean it doesn't
happen very rarely.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
So that's one of the sort of odd things about our
profession is we put ourselvesin these literal boxes, these
rectangles we teach in and thenwe don't leave, we stay right
where we are.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Well, that's the thing.
We even have teachers at aschool who have never gone into
other classrooms.
So we are in our own classroomand I had a teacher at my school
, jen Flores, who had a studentteacher.
She was able to come in andobserve me while she had the
student teacher and we found itso collaborative, because she
(06:52):
says oh, and here's what I do.
And I said oh, okay, and youwork together and build off of
that.
So even you just don't evenhave people going from one
classroom to another, and letalone schools.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
Yeah, and when they come and visit us, what are they
gonna see in your classrooms?
Let's start with you over atAudubon.
What are these folks gonna see,Jill?
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Well, if somebody were to come into my classroom,
they would definitely see thePAF, our phonics program.
They would see Benchmark withthe writing program and
hopefully, now that we havecertain programs, they would see
the same thing as in Tara'sroom they would see good
(07:34):
teaching.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
Tara, what about you?
What are you excited for peoplepotentially to be able to see
and for you to see in otherpeople's classrooms?
Speaker 3 (07:41):
I think just a variety of all the different
literacy activities that we'vebeen doing with PAF the tracing,
the letters in the air and thesight words, the pocket chart,
the songs, the chance, the games, the dictation is really just
cool to see the growth that hasbeen coming along.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Yeah, Pam.
You work with our toasterspretty closely, our teachers on
special assignment.
You visit a lot of classroomsin the district.
What stands out to you in termsof us being in our second year
with this reading program, andwhat are you most proud of?
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Well, I'm staring at here, right now, our Literacy
Summit.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
They can't see it on the podcast.
This is just audio, so there'sno.
You can see it.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
What I'm gonna say is actually Jill is featured on
the invitation because-.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
With the yellow shirt .
Yeah, that's me.
The Audubon colors, yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
And I've spent actually a bunch of days in
Jill's room.
We did some videoing in thereas long, as well as some other
schools, but just from goingfrom school to school.
I know this year and we'restill new Terri said like a year
and a half ago we made a bigchange in our district around
our literacy work.
But this year I see teachersmore comfortable.
I see teachers making it theirown.
(09:02):
I see teachers knowing here'swhere this is where my because
of this program, because of whatI know, I can see where my
students are and where I need totake them.
We also see, because all of ourschools have language and
literacy tosas, so we also seehow that support works.
I know we're gonna see that andall, and we see lots of
language on the walls and lotsof opportunities for our
(09:24):
students to engage.
And then in Jill's room youalso see some of that's really
cool stuff because she has a lotof little pets.
A whole thing's going on in herroom.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Yeah, your room is famous.
Tell us what they're gonna seein your room.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
I have a Russian tortoise named Checkers.
I have a couple of chubby treefrogs, Trevor and Brynn.
I have a leopard gecko Quincy,a crested gecko Mushu, some blue
death fainting beetles who arehilarious.
They're so dramatic and avinegaroon, so we have quite a
(09:59):
few little pets.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Yeah, every kid in the school is just like this
class, should they just?
I watch them.
I hear them outside talkingabout it and I know our work
with students is we're openingdoors for them.
We're really, and that's to me,what stands out about the place
(10:21):
that we're at with our readingprogram is we invite partners in
to look at our schools and, asI mentioned earlier, just the
other day we had a groupvisiting Audubon.
We had a different groupvisiting LEED and we had a
different group visiting BorelCity.
Council members, chiefs ofpolice, ceos of nonprofits,
(10:44):
parents, pta presidents they allcame away with some version of
I can't believe how the qualityof instruction that's happening
in your district.
And it was again a middleschool, a big middle school, a
thousand kids, an elementaryschool serving a lot of students
(11:06):
with incredible need, and thenan elementary school in Foster
City and it's really the threadthat connects those, those three
programs.
So you've got a group coming ina couple of weeks.
What will you tell them was thehardest part of making this
shift?
Cause that's gonna be one ofthe questions they ask is when
you went through this process,what was the hardest?
(11:27):
So what will you share withthem?
Speaker 3 (11:29):
I think just learning a new program, adjusting,
there's a lot more phonics,which is great for our students,
but it was a little bit of aswitch for us and the different
the balance of time yes yes,incorporating all of that into
our day and, as Pam said, makingit our own.
But we're excited seeing thatgrowth is the best part, of
(11:53):
course, yeah, and then how aboutfor you?
Speaker 4 (11:56):
what would you tell teachers was the hardest part in
terms of making that change.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Well, my journey's a little different in that this
was like probably about five or10 years ago.
I was actually approaching ourprevious curriculum directors of
curriculum instruction andtalking about how I would like
to go over more towards theso-called science of reading,
(12:26):
and at that time we were notdoing that.
We were more of a balancedreading district.
So I learned a lot and was kindof not as successful until Pam
over here brought everything.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
The systems came in.
The systems came in, so youfelt it though you had been
teaching.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
I've implemented this , you know.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
For years.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yeah, I don't wanna say that nobody else has.
I mean, I know that Tara isalways known what to do, and
other people have known what todo too, but now it feels good to
have our district all on thesame page.
That's the amazing part to me.
So we're putting outinformation that's accurate,
(13:09):
that's based on empiricalstudies, on what has proven to
work with every child.
A lot of people think we don't.
Everybody learns to readdifferently and we don't.
We all need the same thing tolearn.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
There's a path for each of us.
So, going into next year,what's your biggest hope for
next year?
You're already more thanhalfway through this year.
You'll be in year three ofimplementing these new materials
and all the support systems andthe collaboration time with
your peers.
What's your hope for year three?
Speaker 1 (13:46):
My hope is just continuing, I think, with the
program.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
I think every teacher's like don't change,
because when you're talking toadministrators you're like we
know you folks like to changeeverything.
Stop doing that.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Well, and every year the teachers get more
comfortable, and the more you dosomething, then the less
cognitive load it takes.
So you can continue to learnand you continue to grow.
I might not.
I might be able to implementone thing this year and then
next year I can expand on thatand build on it Every year.
That's really exciting andhaving our TOSAs here has been
(14:25):
amazing.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
I know.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Terry, you feel the same way about that, so
hopefully that continues as well.
Speaker 4 (14:31):
Yeah, how about for you, Terry?
What's your big hope for nextschool year?
Speaker 3 (14:34):
I think, just to continue to be more confident
and really feel almost not anexpert but, an expert in my room
.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
And that'll be the case, though, and with 30 year,
you start to hit that expertisearea.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
And just have it flow .
I feel like it's flowing prettywell right now, but just to
really perfect the little things, fine tune and continue.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
Yeah, Pam, how about you?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
I would echo and I know, diego, working with you
over the last couple of yearswhere we began this journey that
we knew we want this to taketime and we don't want to what
we're used to in education,where we start something and
then maybe not see the datachange right away and then move
to the next thing Although withus, we are seeing great
(15:20):
interesting things in our dataabout students moving, which is
very exciting but even with that, we need to stay the course,
and so my hope for next year iswe do build expertise, which I
know we have so much of, andcontinue to build that in our
staff and stay the course.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
What I want to see.
I want to go to schools afterthe bell rings and I want to see
kids with a book in their hand.
I want to go to our afterschool programs and I want to
see the arms shoot up when thestaff says who wants to go to
the library first.
Because for me, what this isall about yes, test scores
matter and, yes, instruction asa general topic matters, but to
(15:59):
me, what at the heart of thisprocess has been let's create
readers, let's give kids toolsso that they have this lifelong
skill that they take with themwherever they go.
I think we're on that path.
We have a bunch of peoplecoming to see us.
I'm really, really excited forFebruary 8th.
(16:20):
Much more to follow, and thankyou all for being on the One
SMFC Podcast.
You.
But now it feels good to have our district all on the
same page.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I see teachers more comfortable.
I see teachers making it theirown.
I see teachers knowing here'swhere.
This is where my, because ofthis program, because of what I
know, I can see where mystudents are and where I need to
take them.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
It's really exciting to be able to learn from each
other, share what we know.
Looking forward to it.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for being
with us again.
My name is Diego Ochoa, I'msuperintendent of the San Mateo
Foster City School District andI'm delighted to have you join
us today on the One SMFC Podcast.
This is a program that we puttogether in our school district.
We try to invite teachers,administrators, parents and, if
(00:57):
you go back into our archives,even students that we've
interviewed actually, one fromone of our guests today their
school and these podcasts arejust really wonderful
opportunities for us to connectwith our families.
And we don't do it alone.
We bring people into the studioand we have a conversation
(01:17):
about the things that matter tous and the things that are going
on in our school district.
And I'm joined by three reallyawesome colleagues.
I'm going to let introducethemselves, starting with Hi
everybody, I am Pam Bartfield.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
I'm the director of curriculum and instruction,
working with our elementaryschools.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
You're also kind of a famous podcast guest, right.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
I feel like I am.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
How many podcasts is this for you?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Well, it's got to be around 10.
It's a lot, I don't know.
It's a lot.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
You've been on a lot of these.
I had somebody mention that tome.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
Who is this Pam person?
Why is she on the?
I'm the director of curriculum.
We're an education organization.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
I wasn't considering getting a manager, but I think
we're okay.
You know where to find me.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
Yeah, or a publicist, publicist.
Start with the publicistbecause, then you build up your
persona.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
True, true.
Then when you start bookingmore gigs, isn't there a whole
industry behind that.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
It's a whole world, all right.
Well, it's not just the two ofus.
Who else is here with us, hi?
Speaker 1 (02:14):
I'm Jill Lange.
I'm a first grade teacher atAudubon Elementary School in
Foster City.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
What a lovely school.
We were just there yesterday,yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
We had some people come into my room.
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
I had to leave because I wanted to be able to
visit lead.
I started my day at Audubon andvisited.
You have a fifth grade teacher,I think is it Ms Fredrickson?
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Doing an awesome job with her math lesson.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Oh wow, like I took a group of kids with me to visit.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
You saw them yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
I was one of your former students and Sierra
student that went to Foster Cityand they just came away saying,
wow, the way we're teachingmath at elementary school is
just the total eye-opener.
They both said we wish we hadbeen taught math like this.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah, yeah, I saw them and a lot of people there.
It was really nice you had somecommunity members and board
members and students.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
We had the chief of police.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Yeah, I heard that.
You know when.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
I met her.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
I knew the old chief of police, but not this one.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Tracy Avalard, chief of police.
She's just the most delightfulperson you ever want to meet
Well, I actually.
She's good.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Yeah, I worked with her a little bit when we had
community readers.
Yes, remember, you came toAudubon also and we had our
community readers, which, by theway, anytime you want.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
I had the best time reading at Audubon, yeah.
The teachers were kind of likeyou really got into this, diego.
I said, yeah, yeah, I used todo this.
I used to do this all the time,yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
It was nice.
It was nice.
We'll hopefully do it againnext year.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
Yeah, and thanks for being with us today.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
There's still one more with us.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
I am Tara Dixon.
I teach first grade at FosterCity Elementary School in Foster
City.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
Yeah, and that's you know what do we call it?
That's the biggest school inthe district.
At one point I used to tellyour principal I said one out of
every 10 kids in our schooldistrict goes to Foster City
Elementary School, did they?
Speaker 3 (04:12):
not know that the?
Speaker 4 (04:13):
ratio got.
Yeah, it got to that point.
I said well, and it's gone downa little bit because we opened
up a new school in Foster City,but thank you for joining us and
, as you all know, we have anevent coming up here February
8th.
We're really excited about itand it's an event that we wanted
to put together to reallyinvite our colleagues from
(04:35):
around the peninsula to come andvisit our schools.
It's the first grade teachersliteracy summit.
We're hosting it and we havefolks coming from Pam.
Do you remember all thedistricts?
Speaker 2 (04:46):
I know it's 11 different districts.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
So I know we have Hillsborough.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Redwood City, pacifica, santa Cruz, san Bruno,
hayward, monterey.
We have a district fromMonterey coming.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
We sent some invitations across the bay.
I think Hayward is coming.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Hayward.
A couple of others are coming.
The two of you have been ineducation for many years.
Have you had teachers fromother districts come and visit
your classrooms before?
Speaker 1 (05:17):
I have not.
I find it to be really exciting.
I love going to otherclassrooms and having other
people come here and just havingthat community of you.
Know it doesn't matter whatdistrict you're with, we're just
all working together, doingwith the same goal.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
It's the same for me.
I have not, but I think it'sreally exciting to be able to
learn from each other, sharewhat we know.
Looking forward to it.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
So let me pose it to you as like pick a word Exciting
, or anxious, or curious.
How would you?
What's the feeling you mosthave going into this?
Speaker 3 (05:53):
I think inspiring just to learn from our
colleagues in this district andshare what we've been working so
hard over the last year and ahalf.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
Yeah, I mean you're at Foster City.
We have 16 elementary schools.
How often do teachers from Parkor from Laurel or from George
Hall get to come and watch youteach?
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Not that often, but no, yeah, I mean it doesn't
happen very rarely.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
So that's one of the sort of odd things about our
profession is we put ourselvesin these literal boxes, these
rectangles we teach in and thenwe don't leave, we stay right
where we are.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Well, that's the thing.
We even have teachers at aschool who have never gone into
other classrooms.
So we are in our own classroomand I had a teacher at my school
, jen Flores, who had a studentteacher.
She was able to come in andobserve me while she had the
student teacher and we found itso collaborative, because she
(06:52):
says oh, and here's what I do.
And I said oh, okay, and youwork together and build off of
that.
So even you just don't evenhave people going from one
classroom to another, and letalone schools.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
Yeah, and when they come and visit us, what are they
gonna see in your classrooms?
Let's start with you over atAudubon.
What are these folks gonna see,Jill?
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Well, if somebody were to come into my classroom,
they would definitely see thePAF, our phonics program.
They would see Benchmark withthe writing program and
hopefully, now that we havecertain programs, they would see
the same thing as in Tara'sroom they would see good
(07:34):
teaching.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
Tara, what about you?
What are you excited for peoplepotentially to be able to see
and for you to see in otherpeople's classrooms?
Speaker 3 (07:41):
I think just a variety of all the different
literacy activities that we'vebeen doing with PAF the tracing,
the letters in the air and thesight words, the pocket chart,
the songs, the chance, the games, the dictation is really just
cool to see the growth that hasbeen coming along.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Yeah, Pam.
You work with our toasterspretty closely, our teachers on
special assignment.
You visit a lot of classroomsin the district.
What stands out to you in termsof us being in our second year
with this reading program, andwhat are you most proud of?
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Well, I'm staring at here, right now, our Literacy
Summit.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
They can't see it on the podcast.
This is just audio, so there'sno.
You can see it.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
What I'm gonna say is actually Jill is featured on
the invitation because-.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
With the yellow shirt .
Yeah, that's me.
The Audubon colors, yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
And I've spent actually a bunch of days in
Jill's room.
We did some videoing in thereas long, as well as some other
schools, but just from goingfrom school to school.
I know this year and we'restill new Terri said like a year
and a half ago we made a bigchange in our district around
our literacy work.
But this year I see teachersmore comfortable.
I see teachers making it theirown.
(09:02):
I see teachers knowing here'swhere this is where my because
of this program, because of whatI know, I can see where my
students are and where I need totake them.
We also see, because all of ourschools have language and
literacy tosas, so we also seehow that support works.
I know we're gonna see that andall, and we see lots of
language on the walls and lotsof opportunities for our
(09:24):
students to engage.
And then in Jill's room youalso see some of that's really
cool stuff because she has a lotof little pets.
A whole thing's going on in herroom.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Yeah, your room is famous.
Tell us what they're gonna seein your room.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
I have a Russian tortoise named Checkers.
I have a couple of chubby treefrogs, Trevor and Brynn.
I have a leopard gecko Quincy,a crested gecko Mushu, some blue
death fainting beetles who arehilarious.
They're so dramatic and avinegaroon, so we have quite a
(09:59):
few little pets.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Yeah, every kid in the school is just like this
class, should they just?
I watch them.
I hear them outside talkingabout it and I know our work
with students is we're openingdoors for them.
We're really, and that's to me,what stands out about the place
(10:21):
that we're at with our readingprogram is we invite partners in
to look at our schools and, asI mentioned earlier, just the
other day we had a groupvisiting Audubon.
We had a different groupvisiting LEED and we had a
different group visiting BorelCity.
Council members, chiefs ofpolice, ceos of nonprofits,
(10:44):
parents, pta presidents they allcame away with some version of
I can't believe how the qualityof instruction that's happening
in your district.
And it was again a middleschool, a big middle school, a
thousand kids, an elementaryschool serving a lot of students
(11:06):
with incredible need, and thenan elementary school in Foster
City and it's really the threadthat connects those, those three
programs.
So you've got a group coming ina couple of weeks.
What will you tell them was thehardest part of making this
shift?
Cause that's gonna be one ofthe questions they ask is when
you went through this process,what was the hardest?
(11:27):
So what will you share withthem?
Speaker 3 (11:29):
I think just learning a new program, adjusting,
there's a lot more phonics,which is great for our students,
but it was a little bit of aswitch for us and the different
the balance of time yes yes,incorporating all of that into
our day and, as Pam said, makingit our own.
But we're excited seeing thatgrowth is the best part, of
(11:53):
course, yeah, and then how aboutfor you?
Speaker 4 (11:56):
what would you tell teachers was the hardest part in
terms of making that change.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Well, my journey's a little different in that this
was like probably about five or10 years ago.
I was actually approaching ourprevious curriculum directors of
curriculum instruction andtalking about how I would like
to go over more towards theso-called science of reading,
(12:26):
and at that time we were notdoing that.
We were more of a balancedreading district.
So I learned a lot and was kindof not as successful until Pam
over here brought everything.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
The systems came in.
The systems came in, so youfelt it though you had been
teaching.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
I've implemented this , you know.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
For years.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yeah, I don't wanna say that nobody else has.
I mean, I know that Tara isalways known what to do, and
other people have known what todo too, but now it feels good to
have our district all on thesame page.
That's the amazing part to me.
So we're putting outinformation that's accurate,
(13:09):
that's based on empiricalstudies, on what has proven to
work with every child.
A lot of people think we don't.
Everybody learns to readdifferently and we don't.
We all need the same thing tolearn.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
There's a path for each of us.
So, going into next year,what's your biggest hope for
next year?
You're already more thanhalfway through this year.
You'll be in year three ofimplementing these new materials
and all the support systems andthe collaboration time with
your peers.
What's your hope for year three?
Speaker 1 (13:46):
My hope is just continuing, I think, with the
program.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
I think every teacher's like don't change,
because when you're talking toadministrators you're like we
know you folks like to changeeverything.
Stop doing that.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Well, and every year the teachers get more
comfortable, and the more you dosomething, then the less
cognitive load it takes.
So you can continue to learnand you continue to grow.
I might not.
I might be able to implementone thing this year and then
next year I can expand on thatand build on it Every year.
That's really exciting andhaving our TOSAs here has been
(14:25):
amazing.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
I know.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Terry, you feel the same way about that, so
hopefully that continues as well.
Speaker 4 (14:31):
Yeah, how about for you, Terry?
What's your big hope for nextschool year?
Speaker 3 (14:34):
I think, just to continue to be more confident
and really feel almost not anexpert but, an expert in my room
.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
And that'll be the case, though, and with 30 year,
you start to hit that expertisearea.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
And just have it flow .
I feel like it's flowing prettywell right now, but just to
really perfect the little things, fine tune and continue.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
Yeah, Pam, how about you?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
I would echo and I know, diego, working with you
over the last couple of yearswhere we began this journey that
we knew we want this to taketime and we don't want to what
we're used to in education,where we start something and
then maybe not see the datachange right away and then move
to the next thing Although withus, we are seeing great
(15:20):
interesting things in our dataabout students moving, which is
very exciting but even with that, we need to stay the course,
and so my hope for next year iswe do build expertise, which I
know we have so much of, andcontinue to build that in our
staff and stay the course.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
What I want to see.
I want to go to schools afterthe bell rings and I want to see
kids with a book in their hand.
I want to go to our afterschool programs and I want to
see the arms shoot up when thestaff says who wants to go to
the library first.
Because for me, what this isall about yes, test scores
matter and, yes, instruction asa general topic matters, but to
(15:59):
me, what at the heart of thisprocess has been let's create
readers, let's give kids toolsso that they have this lifelong
skill that they take with themwherever they go.
I think we're on that path.
We have a bunch of peoplecoming to see us.
I'm really, really excited forFebruary 8th.
(16:20):
Much more to follow, and thankyou all for being on the One
SMFC Podcast.
You.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!