March 16, 2022 • 38 mins
In this special episode, our host Eric Cross sits down with veteran middle school teacher Ryan Rudkin. Ryan shares her expertise after almost two decades in the classroom, discussing ways to incorporate aspects of problem-based learning into the K–8 science classroom. Eric and Ryan talk about how to increase parent engagement, involve community members, and add excitement to lessons.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I know there's other goals in mind, you know,
standards and test scores.
But at the end of the day, I,you know, I, I wanna come back
and I want them to come back.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Uh, my name's Eric Cross host of our science
podcast and I am with RyanRudkin, middle school teacher
out here in California, uh, justto the north, uh, up near
Sacramento.
Yes.
About Elra Hills.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Yeah.
20 miles east of Sacramento.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Nice.
And I am down here in San Diego.
And so Ryan, to start off, whatI wanna do is ask you about your
origin story, like a superhero.
So how did you become a middleschool science teacher, um, to
become part of this eliteprofession of, uh, science folks
that, that get to do awesomethings with kids?
Speaker 1 (01:08):
I, I would agree with you.
That is, it is definitely anelite profession.
I got my credential and Ithought I was gonna teach, you
know, third or fourth gradeelementary school.
And, um, the second day I gotcalled for, or a sub a sub job
for middle school.
And I just thought, we'll takeit, you know?
And, um, by second period, Iknew this is where I belong.
(01:30):
The kids are just middle school.
Students are, they're just aspecies of their own.
And, um, you have to appreciatethem.
And if you do appreciate them,then you're in the right spot.
And, um, I quickly looked at mycoursework and I was able to get
authorizations in, um, science,history and English, and I love
(01:52):
science.
So I chose science and, um, therest is history.
It's just, it's been a wild rideand I wouldn't have changed or
asked for anything different.
So I love it.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah.
I definitely grew you.
I, so right now, now your, yourhistory you've been in various
middle school classrooms.
Can you tell us a little bitabout that?
What classrooms have you beenin?
What disciplines of science, uh,have you taught or are currently
teaching?
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Um, I was hired for seventh grade life science, and
then I did that for a few yearsand then I got moved into eighth
, uh, physical science and I wasthere for 12 love, eighth grade
science.
I love eighth graders.
Um, chemistry and physics are myfavorite.
There's just so much opportunityfor just awesome labs, great
conversations, you know, studentdiscourse, all of that.
(02:38):
And then, um, the past threeyears I've been in sixth grade
and, uh, now we're integrated.
So, um, so a sixth gradeintegrated science and I also
teach, um, social studies and atechnology design class.
So,
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Oh, nice.
What, what, what in, what do youdo in your technology design
class?
That sounds cool.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Um, it's a, uh, right now it's mostly internet media
and, uh, we use we video, it's a, um, editing video program
mm-hmm and, uh, weproduce and put on our school,
uh, weekly news bulletin and, um, and then we weave in other
projects, we do someinterdisciplinary projects right
now.
(03:16):
My students are working on amythology G God goddess and
monster project that relates toour social studies curriculum.
And, uh, we're learning aboutGreece.
So, um, yeah, we just try togive them, uh, added projects
and they're, um, using the wevideo platform and, you know,
by, by sixth grade, they'recoming to us now with very, uh,
(03:38):
one or skills with all the tech.
I mean, if I need help, I askthem like, how do you do
something on Google docs?
Or how do you do something ondrive?
And mm-hmm.
Yeah.
So the kids, the kids aredefinitely tech savvy.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
They must love being the teacher, like in the
classroom, they get to it kindof like switches the, the, the
power rolls, where they get toteach the teacher something.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Yes.
And especially we videosometimes we've had some hiccups
and the kids show everybody andthat's part of the design class
is they're mm-hmm,um, they're, they're trying to
solve their we're teaching themhow to solve their own problems.
So, um, if there's any kind ofissue with anything with the
technology, honestly, I usuallytell them, go ask a friend, or
we kind of shout out, Hey, whoknows how this, how to
troubleshoot this.
(04:17):
And so, um, the kids are eagerto help each other, which is
nice.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
And, and they have this authentic experience where
they're actually doing like realproblem solving as opposed to
something that we manufactured.
Like, those are real things thatwe have to deal with in life.
And that's exactly like how wesolve it.
Right.
Is we just go ask people, welook it up and the ahas are
genuine too.
Like, yes, I figured
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Out, especially thinking on the fly.
Um, especially yesterday I wasin the middle of teaching and,
um, my laptop froze and, um, soit's like, okay, everybody, uh,
take a couple minutes, you know,work on this, this or that while
I switch out laptops.
And so, you know, I'm modelingtoo how to solve my own
problems.
And, uh, it's, I think it's, youknow, teaches the kids how to do
(04:57):
that too.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
I've always thought it was interesting like that
when, when teachers get to teachin real time, how do we handle
stress and frustration when it'sreally happening?
And I think the tech at times,failure is the real one where
you get, you feel this chill orthis sweat that kind of comes
over you and you're trying topresent or cast or the video
won't play and things like that.
I think I've done enough timesin my years of teaching where
(05:20):
now my, my students know kind ofwhat to do, or they want to come
up and help and we're good withit.
But I remember in the beginningwhen those things would kind of
glitch or go wrong, uh, or thewifi goes down and you're like,
okay, what do we need go?
Speaker 1 (05:33):
I think it's honestly, after the fact, when I
think in the moment, I'm notthinking of like, feeling
stressed, but just afterwardsI'm then I'm think then I'm
like, oh my gosh, this has justbeen a wild day, but yeah, you
just have to kind of go with it.
And that's just the, the beastof middle school.
I just added to the list of whywe love it.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
I, you said something about interdisciplinary work and
I, I wanna kind of ask aboutthat because it sounds like
you've had your hand in severaldifferent areas of science and
grade levels, um, working, doingdesign courses, working with
tech, are there certain lessonsthat are your favorites to teach
the ones that you really enjoyor that you're no matter what
(06:13):
you're like, we need to do this.
This is such a virtualexperience for students.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Um, yeah.
I definitely try to do lessonsor activities along the way.
I like to do, um, projects atthe end of my units, when I
taught physics, we did projectand it was, it was mainly an
assessment too, um, called thewheeling and dealing and the
kids, they would all get adifferent car and then they to
(06:38):
sell their car.
And so they, they had to pretendto be a car salesman and they
did that with their knowledge ofthe physics unit.
So everything we did on forcesand speed and motion and, and,
um, so I, I like doingculminating projects like that,
and you're kind of tricking theminto assessing them.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Well, I imagine when I think about your car salesman
project, I'm thinking of a bunchof students, but they're like on
shark tank, but they're justlittler versions and they're
doing these sales pitches, but,but they're speaking in, in
scientific terms as they'retrying to do it, do you record
these or are they just like, dothey just exist in the
classroom?
Speaker 1 (07:12):
No.
And that was a long time agowhen I taught eighth grade.
Um, I wish I had, I wish I hadrecorded.
That was definitely, and it wasfun cuz I mean the kids, they
were like, uh, you know, theywould get their little piece of
paper and they, some of'emdidn't know what car it was.
And so they're like a, B Buggati, what's a Buggati and then
someone from across the room belike, oh, I want it here.
(07:32):
I'll trade you.
My Ford focus, you know?
And so they would kind ofwheel and deal which car the,
that they, that they would.
Um, and then once they got theirchoice, then they would, you
know, do the project.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
So they're really embodying this persona of a car
salesman.
Yes.
They wheeling and doing back andforth and trying to trade a
Bugatti for, for focus.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
I know.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Um,
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Yeah, I know.
I just, I like to make, I liketo make my class, my learning
environment enjoyable, you know,I, I gotta be there, they gotta
be there.
So I just, I, I know there'sother goals in mind, you know,
standards and test scores, butat the end of the day, I, you
know, I, I wanna come back and Iwant them to come back and just
(08:16):
that as a priority.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Well, based on the, the projects that you're doing
and the way that you approacheducation with students, I can
see why middle school Stustudents would, would want to
come back, even if they had theoption, not to, just because of
the, the cool things that you'redoing it now, we're, we're still
kind of on this hopefullyfingers crossed tail end of yeah
.
Um, of COVID in the classroomand schools, and I know it's
(08:38):
impacted all of us differently.
Um, has, has student engagementchanged since, since COVID and,
and if so, how, and what haveyou done to in these last two
years of maybe, uh, uh, toadjust your approach to, to
continue that engagement and,and that richness that you
provide for your kids?
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Um, I would, I definitely, I think for me, I
recognize that, um, when thestudents are in my classroom, I,
I want them to, I dunno, forlack of better words, just
escape the, the noise at home.
And I know, you know, and we'vealways had students that are
going through, you know, divorcesituations or, um, you know,
(09:19):
just their dog died, otherthings.
And, but I think with COVID,it's definitely been compounded
and, um, just creating a safeplace for the kids to, um, want
to be and, you know, um, yeah, I, I just think, and it's hard.
We've had a lot of students thathave been out absent for, you
(09:40):
know, various reasons and onquarantine.
So, and they're struggling withdoing work, you know, from home
cuz their parents are stressedand their parents are dealing
with their, you know, workissues.
And so I think just having gracefor the kids and um, yeah, just
keeping, I don't know.
I mean, I, I guess I've always,like I said, I've always had
(10:01):
student engagement as top of mylist.
So
Speaker 2 (10:06):
I mean, it's, it sounds like as I, the, the
things I hear you say reallyhave to do with this, the, who
these students are as people.
Yeah.
Versus, and, and then as asecond, who our students, uh,
how, how do relationships fitinto your engagement?
Cause I'm hearing like thisconnection that you seem to be
making with kids as you're,you're talking about things that
are beyond academics, their homelife, how they're impacted.
(10:28):
Yes.
Are there, is there anythingthat you do to, to build these
relationships or to connect withyour students to, to make them
feel wanted or feel connected tothe classroom or to you?
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Um, yeah, I do.
I do a few things to, to buildthose connections.
And again, like this timeframein their life is so out of their
control, their peerrelationships, their, you know,
relationships with theirparents.
And when they're in myclassroom, I want them to feel
loved and appreciated andsomething I do it's called phone
fried days.
(10:57):
And one of the social mediagroups, someone posted about it
and I've been doing it for overa year now, actually.
So on Fridays I call parents andgive good news.
And so I'll pick maybe one ortwo students.
Um, and it could be academicreasons.
It could be behavior, you know,they've, I've seen, you know, a,
a slight improvement ofbehavior, maybe a role model in
(11:18):
the classroom.
Um, and my goal is to geteverybody every trimester.
So, so everybody gets a phonecall by the end of the
trimester.
And, uh, and it's funny cuzsometimes, sometimes the parents
are a little like, uh, oh, youknow, when they pick up, they
see the caller ID and theirschools calling mm-hmm
cause some kidsdon't get good calls.
Mm-hmm mm-hmm so it's, it's a
(11:39):
really, I would say every, everysingle parent that I've called,
I usually get a follow up emaileither to me or my admin.
Just saying it's such a coolidea.
I do this.
Thank you so much.
And um, yeah, I just call andgive good news and just put'em
on the spot.
And usually the kids are alittle embarrassed, but you can
tell, even though they're kindof, I think they're faking it,
that they're embarrassed cuz youknow that they get the phone
(12:00):
Friday and everybody's like,who's gonna get the phone
Friday.
And so it's a very big deal inmy class.
What,
Speaker 2 (12:07):
What, what a great way to, I mean, it seems like
that's hits on so many levels.
Like you're making thesepositive and calls home.
You're praising publicly, whicha lot of times can happen where
students can get criticized orredirected publicly and then
praise privately, which is a lotof times the it's the reverse
what we should be doing, buthere you are praising them
publicly and then you're notonly building a relationship
(12:28):
with yourself, but you're alsoconnecting them with their
parent or whoever is, is caringfor them because yeah.
Now when they go home, there'sthis, Hey, your teacher calls.
You're doing awesome.
Yeah.
So it's this kind of trianglethat's forming there.
I think that's, that's supercool and a great thing for, for
teachers to do
Speaker 1 (12:45):
It.
It takes, you know, the lastfive minutes of my class, I do
it every class.
And then I have, I have a systemI keep, like I said, I keep
track of all the kids that wayby know the trimester I've I've
gotten it.
I've got everybody.
Um, sometimes I like the Stu Ilet the students, whoever I call
first, then I let them pick peerand I tell them like, okay, we
have to have a, you know, asolid reason.
Like why are we calling?
(13:06):
And a couple times they'll havea student, like one of my
energized ones, you know,they'll raise their hand.
How about me?
How about me?
And I'll say, well, I and thekids kind of laugh a little and
I said, well, how about this?
Let's make a goal.
How about next week?
We're gonna get, make a goal andwe're gonna give, we're gonna
have a reason to call home.
So, so just working on the kidsthat need a little push in the
(13:27):
right direction.
Um, so that's other, the otherreasoning to it, but yeah, it's
fun.
I love it.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
And you have the community, you have this goal
setting.
We were talking a little earlierabout being, uh, this
transition.
So you're, you're becoming this,uh, your school's going through
the IB process is that yes.
Is that right?
Yes.
And we were talking about theATL skills and one of them is,
you know, goal settingmanagement and you, you already
kind of organically do this inyour classroom, which is really
neat.
(13:54):
Uh, I know being an IB teacher,a lot of times I find the things
that I've already been doing andfind, oh, this is actually an
approach to learning or this issomething that is, that has a
title.
I just kind, you know, I justthought it was just doing
helpful.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Uh, so the kids are connected.
You, you have this process whereyou're, you're calling parents,
(14:16):
it it's working, students areinvolved.
So it's building this communitynow you're engaging students.
Do you, do you have any favoritestudent engagement tools that
you use, uh, in your classroomor, and when you're teaching
that you feel like gets, you geta lot of, I don't know, bang for
your buck.
There's so many things out therethese days.
And so many approaches, tools,web apps.
(14:38):
Do you have any favorites thatyou use?
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Um, no.
Nothing comes off top of my mindright now, mostly just projects,
like I said, and, and beingexcited.
I, I think having my studentssee me excited about something,
um, and I'm honest when, whenwe're doing something that's not
quite my favorite, then I'mhonest about that too.
Um, but just having my, um, likewe just started thermal energy
(15:03):
this week and I told mystudents, I said, okay guys,
like, I'm gonna weave in somechemistry in there.
I'm gonna weave in, you know,some particle ocean and, and,
and they're like, oh, that'swhen you taught eighth grade.
Huh?
Cause I talk, I talk a lot aboutwhen I taught eighth grade
before.
Um, and just, I don't know, justshowing my own enthusiasm, I
think is a, is a good payoff tome.
(15:24):
That's a bang for your book.
Um, other things like, I mean, Itry to, you know,'em cool videos
and, you know, uh, mark, Rob,he's definitely a favorite of
mine.
I like to show my students.
I like to bring in guestspeakers from our community.
When I taught eighth grade forphysics, I always brought in, um
, a local CHP officer and theywould bring in the radar and
(15:47):
LIDAR guns and the kids wouldmark off the parking lot and
they would calculate theirspeed.
And then they would ver verifyit with the radar gun.
Um, two years ago when I taughtmath, I brought in a local
landscaper company, the fatherand son outfit.
And they, uh, showed the kidshow they would do, uh, bids on
jobs.
And so related to our, ourchapter on volume and area.
(16:11):
So of just making thatconnection with real life, you
know, plus it's just, it's anice opportunity too, for the
community to come in with ourdesign class, put on our, the
newscast.
And then, um, one of our unitsin our sixth grade curriculum is
weather.
And so I brought in, um, a localweather, uh, chief
meteorologist.
So he, and he was actually, heactually talked to the students
about his job as a meteor andthen also being on the news and
(16:35):
putting on a newscast.
So we got him on our greenscreen and did a little like
mark Fean, you know, littlecameo on our, on our newscast
for the week for school.
So that was kind of cool.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
They must have been excited.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Yeah.
They were pretty, they're prettystarstruck by him.
So that was pretty fun.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
This was, was this per this and was in their local
news.
So they would know him.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Yeah, he's on, he's on channel three outta
Sacramento.
Yeah.
K C channel three, mark Fean.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
So all these guest speakers that you have, how, how
do you reach out to thesepeople?
And it, you, you sound like youget a lot of success.
Do you ever get nos?
Like if I'm sitting herelistening and I'm that inspires
me, but you're getting celebrand, and you see a few people,
like how do you reach out tothem?
And, and does everybody say yesor like, what do you, how does
(17:21):
it go?
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Well, I've had a few, usually I always, at my back to
school night, I always, um, askthe parents if they have, you
know, a career or hobby thatcould lend itself to the
curriculum.
Um, and so sometimes I'll hearabout you, you know, students
will talk about like my mom's adoctor.
And so I'll reach out to parentsand just say, Hey, you know,
your kiddo said, you're adoctor.
May I ask what type?
(17:42):
And um, most of the time theknows that I've received are
just because of scheduleconflicts.
Um, I've had, yeah, I dunno.
You just have to get creative,look in your community and see
what you have.
Like people want to come andtalk to kids.
I've had some presentations thatthe person is so intelligent and
amazing, but they just, weren'tvery kid friendly.
(18:04):
I mean, that happens.
But, um, you know, they'resomeone know someone and just
ask, I mean, it doesn't hurt toask to, to have'em come out,
come hang out for the day withmy students.
And, um, one time I had a, um, anurse practitioner, um, she was
in the car, the cardiac unit.
And so she brought in hearts andled a heart dissection with my
students.
(18:24):
And we did like a station set up.
And, um, you know, some I've hadelaborate ones like that, or
just, you know, um, a mom comein to tell her students about,
um, to tell my students about,um, her job as a, um,
nutritionist and related to ourunit on metabolism.
And so just did like a little 15minute Q and a with the kids on
(18:48):
nutrition.
And I would just say, look atyour community and, or post on
social media.
I always do that.
Um, I'll post post in yourschool's, um, PTA, uh, groups.
So the parents know someonethat's for sure where someone's
retired.
I've had, um, one time I had, um, he, I think he was a
grandfather of one of the kids.
(19:08):
He was into Roth and he had likea, he had a bunch of meteorites
like brought in his,brought in the media, right in
your rocks.
I know.
Right.
And he just brought in hismeteorite collection.
I was like, sure, come on in.
So
Speaker 2 (19:23):
That's, that's one of the things I love about being a
middle school student or asteacher is that my students have
such varied interests and I'llget, I'll get the raw every once
in a while and he'll come in andhe'll have all these rocks in,
in crystals.
And a lot of times there's agrandfather that's responsible
for this inherited, you know,geologic treasure that they
(19:44):
have.
And so,
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Which is, I mean, yeah, something like that.
I mean, um, rocks are not myfavorites, but I didn't, you
know, I don't really to tell thekids that, but I was like, sure,
yeah, come on in.
We can have a whole day lessonon rocks.
So I mean, yeah, this is great.
Just utilizing your resources.
That's all, that's all it'sabout.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Well, I think the back to school night was really
helpful.
Like that that's somethingthat's super doable.
Like, so you have a bunch ofparents and you just simply ask
who do you know, what do you,and, and then just collecting
that and then just asking peopleto come in.
I've I've been reluctant to doit more often than I've wanted
to because I haven't figuredout.
And maybe you can help me withthis.
I have three class periods a dayplus other class periods that
(20:26):
are not necessarily science.
And I, I don't want to dominatea person's schedule.
Do do they to be willing to stayall day or do you do one class
gets it and you record it?
Like, how do you balance out the, the, the speakers with your,
your school schedule?
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Mostly they'll they'll just come for the whole
day.
Um, when I taught eighth grade,I had five classes, so that was
easy.
That was an all day thing.
And then usually, you know, I'lloffer to go, you know, call
lunch, have lunch delivered orsnacks during the day.
I mean, feed
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Them ski
Speaker 1 (20:54):
That's yeah.
Just something kind of nicedonuts in the morning.
I mean, you'd be very surprised.
Most, most people that are inthe field are retired.
Like I said, they're, they'remore than willing to come.
And even if they have to, youwait an hour, while you teach
another class that doesn'tpertain to it, then they'll
either leave or come back orjust hang out in the back and,
(21:15):
you know, or pretend to be astudent during that history
class that you have.
So mm-hmm,
Speaker 2 (21:20):
, it's
my own limiting belief where I
feel guilty.
I don't think about it.
I need to think about it throughthe perspective that you do that
these peop people want to talk.
I just assume everybody's sobusy, but I do know when the
times I've had speakers come outat the end of the day, they're
so energized or they're so happyor they're, they're so grateful.
Cause there's, they're like this, this is what it's like to
(21:40):
teach every day.
I'm like, yeah, this is whatit's like.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
I think too, like a lot of parents, um, they usually
, um, being in the stops atelementary, you know, a lot of,
a lot of parents don't get theopportunity to come help out in
the classroom.
Um, mm-hmm becausethe middle school kids, you
know, it's not, it's not verycool or just, it's not, um,
needed, you know, like in theelementary classes.
(22:03):
So a lot of times, like I said,you'd be surprised a lot of the
parents, um, they're more thanhappy to come and, um, hang out
and, um, and again, it's, it'ssome students, they don't want
their mom or dad to be there,but then, but then I, I talk it
up.
I'm like, everyone's gonna be solike impressed that your dad's a
doctor or your mom's a doctor or, um, so then I kind of like
(22:27):
downplay it like, oh, everyou're you're faking it.
It'll be fine.
Don't be embarrassed.
And like leading up to theirparent, coming into the
classroom.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Right.
Kind of redirect that energy to,yeah.
Kind of toward somethingpositive with, with guest
speakers, projects, pacing, allthese awesome things that you
have going on.
How do you find balance as ateacher, as a person?
Um, and what did, whatencouragement would you give to
new or aspiring teachers?
(22:56):
There's we, we work in aprofession that will, will take
as much as you give it and, andyou fall asleep at night, we're
in about other people's kids andwe love it.
And teachers by personality canjust give and give and give,
give and give.
But in order for us to last, I'mthinking, I'm thinking about
those new teachers who are goinginto it, who are gonna go in
and, and be there before the sungets up and stay after the sun
(23:19):
gets down.
How do they, how do you maintainbalance taking care of yourself
you've been in, in educationfor, for, uh, how long I, how
long have you been teaching for
Speaker 1 (23:29):
16?
This is my 16th.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
You've been enough to see, um, you know, be that
veteran.
So what, how do you findbalance?
And then what encouragementwould you give to, to newer
aspiring teachers?
Speaker 1 (23:39):
I would say each year, pick one or two things to
add on you can't, you can't addon 10 things, even though you're
gonna find 10 things that areawesome, but just put'em in, you
know, make a little list, put'emin a file and just every year,
just get good at what you do.
And then just add on one or twothings, um, and reflect on
(24:00):
what's not going well, that youcan get rid of, to make room, to
, to add something else.
Um, yeah.
I just think that and just, Idon't know, try to be patient
with yourself.
Um, and don't reinvent thewheel.
There's so many, um, things outthere that you can borrow and
make it your own.
(24:22):
Um, again, I think that's a timesaver, just lean on your
colleagues and, um, take lots ofnotes because then when you do
it again, next year, you canrefresh yourself and oh yeah,
this lesson, wasn't the best.
Like what can you add in to makeit a little bit better?
And yeah, I would say just takeon one or two things each year.
And then by the time you get to,you know, being a veteran, you
(24:44):
can do all these awesome thingsand it it'll, it'll feel natural
cuz you've been practicing andjust adding in one thing at a
time.
I, I coached science Olympiad abunch of years ago and um,
science Olympiad is sorewarding.
It's just, it's so amazing.
Um, but it's
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Very, what is, what is science?
Olympiad is just for the peoplewho've never heard of it.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Oh, science Olympiad is so awesome.
Google it.
Um, it's I think it's justscience, olympia.org.
Um, it's uh, 23 different eventsand um, across all disciplines
of science, different topics,and then you have a team of 15
students and then so your 15students have to cover the 23
(25:24):
events.
And then, um, so for example, ifthe students on the anatomy
team, the, uh, usually there's ateam of two kids, um, they're
gonna study and learn and they,they provide all their rules and
the guidelines.
And then, um, so the studentslearn and study whatever the
parameters or for that year.
(25:44):
And then they take a test andthen they compete against others
schools.
Um, and then there's buildevents, the engineering events,
they can build things liketraches, um, matchbox cars, um,
or mouse, trap cars.
Um, oh gosh, there's all kindsof things.
There's like a rub Goldbergdevice.
It changes every year.
And um, it's still rewarding tosee the kids.
(26:07):
They, you know, the, they picktheir area of science that they
love.
And sometimes they'll, you haveto put them on an event that
they don't know and then theyend up loving it and mm-hmm
so, yeah, it's sorewarding as a teacher to see
these kids that are just on fireand you know, that like one day
they're gonna go off and doamazing things.
(26:27):
Um, and you know, they're just,and they, they, they just
commit, they, they, they committo their event and then they
just, they blow it outta thewater and then they, they win
medals and just the recognition,it's just, yeah, it's super,
it's just an amazing program.
So
Speaker 2 (26:42):
One of the, one of the competitions that's really
low tech that I've, uh, takeninto my classroom is, uh, write
at doit.
Have you done that one
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Before?
Oh yes.
Yeah.
That's one.
Yep.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
It's such a, it's such a low tech simple one to
do, but it teaches such greatskills.
And for those people who haven'theard of the write at doit
project, you, you end up, youcreate kind some abstract art
out of random crafts.
That's very difficult, kind ofto describe you have pipe
cleaners and foam and balls andyou know, all these different
(27:13):
things, you make it.
And then one person, the team isa writer and they all look at it
and they write the proceduresand then their teammate, who's
in a different room that doesn'tget to see.
It gets all the materials tobuild it and the procedures and
they have to rebuild it asclosely as possible to the
actual original, even thoughthey don't get to see the
original.
(27:33):
So they have to rely on theirpartners ability to write
procedures step by step.
Uh, and it's it, it was fun towatch my students become
teammates in that.
And they learned how to communia literally fun, uh, a really
fun competition.
So I, I expanded it to do itwith, with all of my students as
an activity, just to teach themhow to, uh, write descriptively,
to, to write procedurally, to,to be, uh, technical writers.
(27:58):
Uh, and it's, it's fun.
It's fun to see what they builtbased on the students say.
And it's also fun to watch theminteract with each other, which
for seventh graders, usuallyit's conflict.
Yeah.
But like playful conflict.
, it's pretty funny tosee what they build.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
They're like, man, are you talking about that?
Doesn't mean this, it means thisand so
Speaker 2 (28:16):
I know part of me feels guilty, but not enough to
stop the project.
Cause I know it's for some of em, it's gonna be a really trial
by fire, uh, you know, and beingable to practice their, their
skills with writing procedures,
Speaker 1 (28:27):
But they're, they're learning among themselves how to
provide more details and to bemore thorough with their writing
and um, and their thoughts puttheir thoughts onto paper.
So yeah, that's a funny event.
Definitely.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Now there's uh, earlier it, you had mentioned
something about connecting yourkids with kids and students
outside of your classroom.
What is it that you do withthat?
Because I thought that was areally cool project.
Can you speak to that?
Uh, a little bit,
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Yes, I've done.
Um, uh, they haven't had it in afew years, but there's something
called the Pringles challenge.
Mm-hmm and um, ifyou Google that, I'm sure it's
on the internet still.
Um, and so you sign your, yousign your class up or your
classes and, um, the, you getpartnered with another school
somewhere in the us someplaceelse and you decide individually
(29:18):
teams, whatever they build.
And, uh, they make a package toship a single Pringle chip
through the mail.
And then you, you actually, youmail a Pringle chip through the
mail and then, um, your partnerteam or partner school, they
send their chips to you and thenyou open everything and then you
can take pictures and video.
(29:39):
And, um, and then there was awhole scoring process where you
would score, um, when youreceive the chips.
Um, and then you input all thedata on the website and then you
can see like how your and mostschools would trade pictures or,
um, so that the kids found outhow their chip survived March
Melo, Manus is so much fun.
Again.
(29:59):
Googled.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Did you say March?
Mamal madness?
Yes.
March Manness with mammals?
Yes.
OK.
What is
Speaker 1 (30:06):
This?
Oh, it's, it starts up in Marchand um, yeah, you can, and you
can sign your students up andthat one, again, you, it's not
too interactive with otherschools, but this is opportunity
to get the kids interactingwithin your site or within your
district, or if you have teacherfriends at other schools.
Yeah.
There's like 60, I think it's 64animals and they have this
(30:27):
massive bracket that they post.
And then, um, you can, um, havethe students, I did it, it would
be very time consuming to havethe kids individually research
each animal.
So I just gave one animal perstudent.
And so then as a class, um, weresearched all the animals and
(30:47):
then every, like, I think it'sthree days or so.
Um, they have these like boutsand it's all posted on YouTube,
Google it.
It's kind of fun.
And
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Then I've already got the website up, ready to go.
Folks, everybody who needs toGoogle this March Mamal madness.
And is it, uh, Arizona stateuniversity?
Yes.
Is that the main site ASU?
Yes.
Okay.
So people listen to this, uh,check it out March Mamal madness
so we can look, I'm doing this.
I'm already, you've already soldme on this.
It
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Is so much fun.
Oh my gosh.
And then, then the kids, um,they each like round, you know,
they pick their pick, they maketheir just like basket ball.
Then they pick their, they dotheir picks and then you wait
for the video.
Um, and they do it live on, Ithink it's live on Instagram or
the next day on YouTube.
And then the kids get allexcited.
And then usually the kids, likethey'll the whatever animal they
(31:37):
got as their research animal.
Then they're like rooting forthat one win, you know, the
whole thing.
So mm-hmm
Speaker 2 (31:42):
, but we
still have time.
We still have time to, and you
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Can jump in time, even if it's already started,
you can, you can jump into it.
Um, it usually lasts, like, Ibelieve it's like a two week
from beginning to end, uh, whenthey do the first round, the
wild card and then all the wayto the winner, I believe it's a
two week process.
Oh, maybe three, actually.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
I'm already seeing this, like this lead up to the
video, like being watched inclass to see, yes, I'm already,
I'm thinking about like, how doI prevent my students from
finding the video?
Or like, when does it go live sothat I could be the one to show
them so they didn't go find itearly.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
It takes time out of the class, but I, I believe
it's, it's one of those thingswhere you have to just, it, you
know, takes 10 minutes out ofthe class, but it's, it's, it's
important.
Um, yeah.
So the, when and they have theeach round and then the next day
they release the YouTube videolast year when it got down or
the final rounds, uh, we were onspring break.
And so, um, I told my students,I was like, you guys let's do
(32:35):
some optional zooms.
And so I had a bunch of kids logon and we all watched the videos
together.
So that was kind of fun.
Um, got it.
And then this year, the otherthing that the first time I I've
ever done this, um, and it'sgoing really well is, um, on
social media, I got, I wastalking with one of the teachers
from Ohio who teaches scienceand then, um, so she, and I
decided we're gonna do pen palsfor our students this year, pay
(32:58):
paper and pen, pen pals.
And, um, so that's been a lot offun.
We just partnered up all thestudents, her students and my
students.
And then, um, once a month wesend and receive the letters to
each other.
So that's been a really cool,really cool experience.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
If you keep doing that and you need, and you need
more teachers to be involved,can my students be pen P with
your students?
Yeah.
You, uh, open up to more people.
Yeah, I think that, I think thatwould be really to get a letter
old school.
Yeah.
Letter in the mail.
It would be so exciting.
It
Speaker 1 (33:28):
Is.
I mean, and we, we mail them aslike, we, we, the, the teacher
and I, we just put them alltogether in one package, but oh
yeah.
The it's, it's an actual, likehandwritten letter.
Only
Speaker 2 (33:37):
The only letters I feel like I get in the mail in
the hour bills.
Right.
So, Uh,
Speaker 1 (33:42):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
It's like, but I feel like the, the, I feel like the,
the digital version of that isif someone calls me, it's
probably bad news.
Like, I don't know if I'm theonly one that's like that, but
like, I'm like, who's callingme.
Why aren't you texting me?
What's going on, text me first,then call.
I need to know who's going on.
And if you're unknown, you'regoing voicemail.
I dunno.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Yeah.
I know the 10,000 has been,that's been a lot of fun
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Now is you've been in education for a while.
You're, you're on the other sideof what it's like to be a
student in the classroom.
Um, and it, and which can besurreal in itself.
You know, when we think aboutour own experiences as being a
student, uh, is there a teacheror a learning experie that's had
an impact on you while you werea student in school that really,
(34:24):
that stands out to you and youcan interpret the question
however you want, but is theresomeone that's memorable and
experience that's memorable thatyou still carry with you today?
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Definitely.
Um, my, my favorite teacher andwe actually still keep in
contact on social media, um, isMrs.
Sheldon.
She was my fifth and sixth gradeteacher.
I had the pleasure when I was inelementary school.
I was in an all day containedgate class, gifted in educated,
gifted, and talented educationclass.
I just, I vividly remember doingso many amazing projects and we
(34:57):
built this big, giant.
She brought in a big old like TVbox.
It was big, big, big, and youcould stick like three kids
inside there, standing up nextshoulder shoulder.
And we built this big, um,dragon, it, we bid we the head
and then we had the whole restof the class in a big sheet
behind us.
And we would do a little paradearound the school.
(35:19):
And she had that thing for yearsafter, after they to repair it
every year.
And then they would, you know,do the little parade around
school.
She did a lot of traveling andwhen we would go on vacation and
then come back, that was alwaysthe big deal.
Like where did miss Sheldon go?
And she had, you know, standfrom Egypt and, um, pictures
from the rainforest.
And, um, and later when I becamea teacher and then I looked her
(35:42):
up and we reconnected, um, I didask her, like, did you go to
those places or did you like lieabout it?
to, to get us engaged?
Speaker 2 (35:52):
You, you went for like the real questions
Speaker 1 (35:54):
I did.
And I mean, she, she laughed andthought, thought that was funny.
And she did, she did travel forreal.
Um, but yeah, she's an amazingwoman.
We still keep him in contact.
And, um, just, I remember, youknow, little things, like we
would be out there doing our PEtime and she'd have her long
skirt, you know, dress on withher tennis and she's out there
(36:15):
playing kickball with us.
And, um, just, I don't know,just a very kindhearted, smart,
amazing woman.
And so, um, yeah, I, I, uh, andI'm, I'm very fortunate and I'm
grateful that we, we are able tokeep in contact and love social
media for that reason.
So,
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Yeah.
And that's Ms.
Sheldon, is that what Mrs.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
Sheldon?
Yeah.
Marlene Sheldon.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
Shout out to Marlene Sheldon and, uh, influencing the
next generation of teachers andwith engagement with your world
travels and all those differentthings.
Yeah.
(37:04):
Ryan, thank you so much for oneserving our students.
Um, and in the classroom, ourmiddle school students who, who
need us.
And I, I think that middleschool, especially elementary
school, those those years arewhen students are really
starting to decide, like, whatam I good at?
And the experiences that wecreate for our students really
(37:25):
shape what they believe they cando.
You know, these, these reallycool engaging experiences, these
projects that you're givingthem, whether they're, they're,
they're doing these car sales,shark tanks, or they're, they're
, they're, they're doing, uh,pen pals, or you have guest
speakers, or they're designingplanets.
These are things that, thatstudents don't remember or don't
(37:46):
forget.
And then when they move on to,to higher grades, they remember
more than anything, I think howthey felt about something.
Yeah.
And it sounds like you'recrafting these awesome
experiences.
And so I just wanna thank youfor your time.
Uh, I, as a teacher, it's, it'svery short and, uh, I thank you
for, for being on the podcastwith us.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
Thank you.
This has been a greatexperience.
And, um, yeah, I just, I, Ireally enjoy my students and,
uh, I feel very, very gratefuland very blessed for, for
finding where I belong.
I know there's other goals in mind, you know,
standards and test scores.
But at the end of the day, I,you know, I, I wanna come back
and I want them to come back.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Uh, my name's Eric Cross host of our science
podcast and I am with RyanRudkin, middle school teacher
out here in California, uh, justto the north, uh, up near
Sacramento.
Yes.
About Elra Hills.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Yeah.
20 miles east of Sacramento.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Nice.
And I am down here in San Diego.
And so Ryan, to start off, whatI wanna do is ask you about your
origin story, like a superhero.
So how did you become a middleschool science teacher, um, to
become part of this eliteprofession of, uh, science folks
that, that get to do awesomethings with kids?
Speaker 1 (01:08):
I, I would agree with you.
That is, it is definitely anelite profession.
I got my credential and Ithought I was gonna teach, you
know, third or fourth gradeelementary school.
And, um, the second day I gotcalled for, or a sub a sub job
for middle school.
And I just thought, we'll takeit, you know?
And, um, by second period, Iknew this is where I belong.
(01:30):
The kids are just middle school.
Students are, they're just aspecies of their own.
And, um, you have to appreciatethem.
And if you do appreciate them,then you're in the right spot.
And, um, I quickly looked at mycoursework and I was able to get
authorizations in, um, science,history and English, and I love
(01:52):
science.
So I chose science and, um, therest is history.
It's just, it's been a wild rideand I wouldn't have changed or
asked for anything different.
So I love it.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah.
I definitely grew you.
I, so right now, now your, yourhistory you've been in various
middle school classrooms.
Can you tell us a little bitabout that?
What classrooms have you beenin?
What disciplines of science, uh,have you taught or are currently
teaching?
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Um, I was hired for seventh grade life science, and
then I did that for a few yearsand then I got moved into eighth
, uh, physical science and I wasthere for 12 love, eighth grade
science.
I love eighth graders.
Um, chemistry and physics are myfavorite.
There's just so much opportunityfor just awesome labs, great
conversations, you know, studentdiscourse, all of that.
(02:38):
And then, um, the past threeyears I've been in sixth grade
and, uh, now we're integrated.
So, um, so a sixth gradeintegrated science and I also
teach, um, social studies and atechnology design class.
So,
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Oh, nice.
What, what, what in, what do youdo in your technology design
class?
That sounds cool.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Um, it's a, uh, right now it's mostly internet media
and, uh, we use we video, it's a, um, editing video program
mm-hmm
uh, weekly news bulletin and, um, and then we weave in other
projects, we do someinterdisciplinary projects right
now.
(03:16):
My students are working on amythology G God goddess and
monster project that relates toour social studies curriculum.
And, uh, we're learning aboutGreece.
So, um, yeah, we just try togive them, uh, added projects
and they're, um, using the wevideo platform and, you know,
by, by sixth grade, they'recoming to us now with very, uh,
(03:38):
one or skills with all the tech.
I mean, if I need help, I askthem like, how do you do
something on Google docs?
Or how do you do something ondrive?
And mm-hmm
Yeah.
So the kids, the kids aredefinitely tech savvy.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
They must love being the teacher, like in the
classroom, they get to it kindof like switches the, the, the
power rolls, where they get toteach the teacher something.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Yes.
And especially we videosometimes we've had some hiccups
and the kids show everybody andthat's part of the design class
is they're mm-hmm
solve their we're teaching themhow to solve their own problems.
So, um, if there's any kind ofissue with anything with the
technology, honestly, I usuallytell them, go ask a friend, or
we kind of shout out, Hey, whoknows how this, how to
troubleshoot this.
(04:17):
And so, um, the kids are eagerto help each other, which is
nice.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
And, and they have this authentic experience where
they're actually doing like realproblem solving as opposed to
something that we manufactured.
Like, those are real things thatwe have to deal with in life.
And that's exactly like how wesolve it.
Right.
Is we just go ask people, welook it up and the ahas are
genuine too.
Like, yes, I figured
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Out, especially thinking on the fly.
Um, especially yesterday I wasin the middle of teaching and,
um, my laptop froze and, um, soit's like, okay, everybody, uh,
take a couple minutes, you know,work on this, this or that while
I switch out laptops.
And so, you know, I'm modelingtoo how to solve my own
problems.
And, uh, it's, I think it's, youknow, teaches the kids how to do
(04:57):
that too.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
I've always thought it was interesting like that
when, when teachers get to teachin real time, how do we handle
stress and frustration when it'sreally happening?
And I think the tech at times,failure is the real one where
you get, you feel this chill orthis sweat that kind of comes
over you and you're trying topresent or cast or the video
won't play and things like that.
I think I've done enough timesin my years of teaching where
(05:20):
now my, my students know kind ofwhat to do, or they want to come
up and help and we're good withit.
But I remember in the beginningwhen those things would kind of
glitch or go wrong, uh, or thewifi goes down and you're like,
okay, what do we need go?
Speaker 1 (05:33):
I think it's honestly, after the fact, when I
think in the moment, I'm notthinking of like, feeling
stressed, but just afterwardsI'm then I'm think then I'm
like, oh my gosh, this has justbeen a wild day, but yeah, you
just have to kind of go with it.
And that's just the, the beastof middle school.
I just added to the list of whywe love it.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
I, you said something about interdisciplinary work and
I, I wanna kind of ask aboutthat because it sounds like
you've had your hand in severaldifferent areas of science and
grade levels, um, working, doingdesign courses, working with
tech, are there certain lessonsthat are your favorites to teach
the ones that you really enjoyor that you're no matter what
(06:13):
you're like, we need to do this.
This is such a virtualexperience for students.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Um, yeah.
I definitely try to do lessonsor activities along the way.
I like to do, um, projects atthe end of my units, when I
taught physics, we did projectand it was, it was mainly an
assessment too, um, called thewheeling and dealing and the
kids, they would all get adifferent car and then they to
(06:38):
sell their car.
And so they, they had to pretendto be a car salesman and they
did that with their knowledge ofthe physics unit.
So everything we did on forcesand speed and motion and, and,
um, so I, I like doingculminating projects like that,
and you're kind of tricking theminto assessing them.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Well, I imagine when I think about your car salesman
project, I'm thinking of a bunchof students, but they're like on
shark tank, but they're justlittler versions and they're
doing these sales pitches, but,but they're speaking in, in
scientific terms as they'retrying to do it, do you record
these or are they just like, dothey just exist in the
classroom?
Speaker 1 (07:12):
No.
And that was a long time agowhen I taught eighth grade.
Um, I wish I had, I wish I hadrecorded.
That was definitely, and it wasfun cuz I mean the kids, they
were like, uh, you know, theywould get their little piece of
paper and they, some of'emdidn't know what car it was.
And so they're like a, B Buggati, what's a Buggati and then
someone from across the room belike, oh, I want it here.
(07:32):
I'll trade you.
My Ford focus, you know?
And
that they, that they would.
Um, and then once they got theirchoice, then they would, you
know, do the project.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
So they're really embodying this persona of a car
salesman.
Yes.
They wheeling and doing back andforth and trying to trade a
Bugatti for, for focus.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
I know.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Um,
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Yeah, I know.
I just, I like to make, I liketo make my class, my learning
environment enjoyable, you know,I, I gotta be there, they gotta
be there.
So I just, I, I know there'sother goals in mind, you know,
standards and test scores, butat the end of the day, I, you
know, I, I wanna come back and Iwant them to come back and just
(08:16):
that as a priority.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Well, based on the, the projects that you're doing
and the way that you approacheducation with students, I can
see why middle school Stustudents would, would want to
come back, even if they had theoption, not to, just because of
the, the cool things that you'redoing it now, we're, we're still
kind of on this hopefullyfingers crossed tail end of yeah
.
Um, of COVID in the classroomand schools, and I know it's
(08:38):
impacted all of us differently.
Um, has, has student engagementchanged since, since COVID and,
and if so, how, and what haveyou done to in these last two
years of maybe, uh, uh, toadjust your approach to, to
continue that engagement and,and that richness that you
provide for your kids?
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Um, I would, I definitely, I think for me, I
recognize that, um, when thestudents are in my classroom, I,
I want them to, I dunno, forlack of better words, just
escape the, the noise at home.
And I know, you know, and we'vealways had students that are
going through, you know, divorcesituations or, um, you know,
(09:19):
just their dog died, otherthings.
And, but I think with COVID,it's definitely been compounded
and, um, just creating a safeplace for the kids to, um, want
to be and, you know, um, yeah, I, I just think, and it's hard.
We've had a lot of students thathave been out absent for, you
(09:40):
know, various reasons and onquarantine.
So, and they're struggling withdoing work, you know, from home
cuz their parents are stressedand their parents are dealing
with their, you know, workissues.
And so I think just having gracefor the kids and um, yeah, just
keeping, I don't know.
I mean, I, I guess I've always,like I said, I've always had
(10:01):
student engagement as top of mylist.
So
Speaker 2 (10:06):
I mean, it's, it sounds like as I, the, the
things I hear you say reallyhave to do with this, the, who
these students are as people.
Yeah.
Versus, and, and then as asecond, who our students, uh,
how, how do relationships fitinto your engagement?
Cause I'm hearing like thisconnection that you seem to be
making with kids as you're,you're talking about things that
are beyond academics, their homelife, how they're impacted.
(10:28):
Yes.
Are there, is there anythingthat you do to, to build these
relationships or to connect withyour students to, to make them
feel wanted or feel connected tothe classroom or to you?
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Um, yeah, I do.
I do a few things to, to buildthose connections.
And again, like this timeframein their life is so out of their
control, their peerrelationships, their, you know,
relationships with theirparents.
And when they're in myclassroom, I want them to feel
loved and appreciated andsomething I do it's called phone
fried days.
(10:57):
And one of the social mediagroups, someone posted about it
and I've been doing it for overa year now, actually.
So on Fridays I call parents andgive good news.
And so I'll pick maybe one ortwo students.
Um, and it could be academicreasons.
It could be behavior, you know,they've, I've seen, you know, a,
a slight improvement ofbehavior, maybe a role model in
(11:18):
the classroom.
Um, and my goal is to geteverybody every trimester.
So, so everybody gets a phonecall by the end of the
trimester.
And, uh, and it's funny cuzsometimes, sometimes the parents
are a little like, uh, oh, youknow, when they pick up, they
see the caller ID and theirschools calling mm-hmm
Mm-hmm
(11:39):
really, I would say every, everysingle parent that I've called,
I usually get a follow up emaileither to me or my admin.
Just saying it's such a coolidea.
I do this.
Thank you so much.
And um, yeah, I just call andgive good news and just put'em
on the spot.
And usually the kids are alittle embarrassed, but you can
tell, even though they're kindof, I think they're faking it,
that they're embarrassed cuz youknow that they get the phone
(12:00):
Friday and everybody's like,who's gonna get the phone
Friday.
And so it's a very big deal inmy class.
What,
Speaker 2 (12:07):
What, what a great way to, I mean, it seems like
that's hits on so many levels.
Like you're making thesepositive and calls home.
You're praising publicly, whicha lot of times can happen where
students can get criticized orredirected publicly and then
praise privately, which is a lotof times the it's the reverse
what we should be doing, buthere you are praising them
publicly and then you're notonly building a relationship
(12:28):
with yourself, but you're alsoconnecting them with their
parent or whoever is, is caringfor them because yeah.
Now when they go home, there'sthis, Hey, your teacher calls.
You're doing awesome.
Yeah.
So it's this kind of trianglethat's forming there.
I think that's, that's supercool and a great thing for, for
teachers to do
Speaker 1 (12:45):
It.
It takes, you know, the lastfive minutes of my class, I do
it every class.
And then I have, I have a systemI keep, like I said, I keep
track of all the kids that wayby know the trimester I've I've
gotten it.
I've got everybody.
Um, sometimes I like the Stu Ilet the students, whoever I call
first, then I let them pick peerand I tell them like, okay, we
have to have a, you know, asolid reason.
Like why are we calling?
(13:06):
And a couple times they'll havea student, like one of my
energized ones, you know,they'll raise their hand.
How about me?
How about me?
And I'll say, well, I and thekids kind of laugh a little and
I said, well, how about this?
Let's make a goal.
How about next week?
We're gonna get, make a goal andwe're gonna give, we're gonna
have a reason to call home.
So, so just working on the kidsthat need a little push in the
(13:27):
right direction.
Um, so that's other, the otherreasoning to it, but yeah, it's
fun.
I love it.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
And you have the community, you have this goal
setting.
We were talking a little earlierabout being, uh, this
transition.
So you're, you're becoming this,uh, your school's going through
the IB process is that yes.
Is that right?
Yes.
And we were talking about theATL skills and one of them is,
you know, goal settingmanagement and you, you already
kind of organically do this inyour classroom, which is really
neat.
(13:54):
Uh, I know being an IB teacher,a lot of times I find the things
that I've already been doing andfind, oh, this is actually an
approach to learning or this issomething that is, that has a
title.
I just kind, you know, I justthought it was just doing
helpful.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Uh, so the kids are connected.
You, you have this process whereyou're, you're calling parents,
(14:16):
it it's working, students areinvolved.
So it's building this communitynow you're engaging students.
Do you, do you have any favoritestudent engagement tools that
you use, uh, in your classroomor, and when you're teaching
that you feel like gets, you geta lot of, I don't know, bang for
your buck.
There's so many things out therethese days.
And so many approaches, tools,web apps.
(14:38):
Do you have any favorites thatyou use?
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Um, no.
Nothing comes off top of my mindright now, mostly just projects,
like I said, and, and beingexcited.
I, I think having my studentssee me excited about something,
um, and I'm honest when, whenwe're doing something that's not
quite my favorite, then I'mhonest about that too.
Um, but just having my, um, likewe just started thermal energy
(15:03):
this week and I told mystudents, I said, okay guys,
like, I'm gonna weave in somechemistry in there.
I'm gonna weave in, you know,some particle ocean and, and,
and they're like, oh, that'swhen you taught eighth grade.
Huh?
Cause I talk, I talk a lot aboutwhen I taught eighth grade
before.
Um, and just, I don't know, justshowing my own enthusiasm, I
think is a, is a good payoff tome.
(15:24):
That's a bang for your book.
Um, other things like, I mean, Itry to, you know,'em cool videos
and, you know, uh, mark, Rob,he's definitely a favorite of
mine.
I like to show my students.
I like to bring in guestspeakers from our community.
When I taught eighth grade forphysics, I always brought in, um
, a local CHP officer and theywould bring in the radar and
(15:47):
LIDAR guns and the kids wouldmark off the parking lot and
they would calculate theirspeed.
And then they would ver verifyit with the radar gun.
Um, two years ago when I taughtmath, I brought in a local
landscaper company, the fatherand son outfit.
And they, uh, showed the kidshow they would do, uh, bids on
jobs.
And so related to our, ourchapter on volume and area.
(16:11):
So of just making thatconnection with real life, you
know, plus it's just, it's anice opportunity too, for the
community to come in with ourdesign class, put on our, the
newscast.
And then, um, one of our unitsin our sixth grade curriculum is
weather.
And so I brought in, um, a localweather, uh, chief
meteorologist.
So he, and he was actually, heactually talked to the students
about his job as a meteor andthen also being on the news and
(16:35):
putting on a newscast.
So we got him on our greenscreen and did a little like
mark Fean, you know, littlecameo on our, on our newscast
for the week for school.
So that was kind of cool.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
They must have been excited.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Yeah.
They were pretty, they're prettystarstruck by him.
So that was pretty fun.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
This was, was this per this and was in their local
news.
So they would know him.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Yeah, he's on, he's on channel three outta
Sacramento.
Yeah.
K C channel three, mark Fean.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
So all these guest speakers that you have, how, how
do you reach out to thesepeople?
And it, you, you sound like youget a lot of success.
Do you ever get nos?
Like if I'm sitting herelistening and I'm that inspires
me, but you're getting celebrand, and you see a few people,
like how do you reach out tothem?
And, and does everybody say yesor like, what do you, how does
(17:21):
it go?
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Well, I've had a few, usually I always, at my back to
school night, I always, um, askthe parents if they have, you
know, a career or hobby thatcould lend itself to the
curriculum.
Um, and so sometimes I'll hearabout you, you know, students
will talk about like my mom's adoctor.
And so I'll reach out to parentsand just say, Hey, you know,
your kiddo said, you're adoctor.
May I ask what type?
(17:42):
And um, most of the time theknows that I've received are
just because of scheduleconflicts.
Um, I've had, yeah, I dunno.
You just have to get creative,look in your community and see
what you have.
Like people want to come andtalk to kids.
I've had some presentations thatthe person is so intelligent and
amazing, but they just, weren'tvery kid friendly.
(18:04):
I mean, that happens.
But, um, you know, they'resomeone know someone and just
ask, I mean, it doesn't hurt toask to, to have'em come out,
come hang out for the day withmy students.
And, um, one time I had a, um, anurse practitioner, um, she was
in the car, the cardiac unit.
And so she brought in hearts andled a heart dissection with my
students.
(18:24):
And we did like a station set up.
And, um, you know, some I've hadelaborate ones like that, or
just, you know, um, a mom comein to tell her students about,
um, to tell my students about,um, her job as a, um,
nutritionist and related to ourunit on metabolism.
And so just did like a little 15minute Q and a with the kids on
(18:48):
nutrition.
And I would just say, look atyour community and, or post on
social media.
I always do that.
Um, I'll post post in yourschool's, um, PTA, uh, groups.
So the parents know someonethat's for sure where someone's
retired.
I've had, um, one time I had, um, he, I think he was a
grandfather of one of the kids.
(19:08):
He was into Roth and he had likea, he had a bunch of meteorites
your rocks.
I know.
Right.
And he just brought in hismeteorite collection.
I was like, sure, come on in.
So
Speaker 2 (19:23):
That's, that's one of the things I love about being a
middle school student or asteacher is that my students have
such varied interests and I'llget, I'll get the raw every once
in a while and he'll come in andhe'll have all these rocks in,
in crystals.
And a lot of times there's agrandfather that's responsible
for this inherited, you know,geologic treasure that they
(19:44):
have.
And so,
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Which is, I mean, yeah, something like that.
I mean, um, rocks are not myfavorites, but I didn't, you
know, I don't really to tell thekids that, but I was like, sure,
yeah, come on in.
We can have a whole day lessonon rocks.
So I mean, yeah, this is great.
Just utilizing your resources.
That's all, that's all it'sabout.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Well, I think the back to school night was really
helpful.
Like that that's somethingthat's super doable.
Like, so you have a bunch ofparents and you just simply ask
who do you know, what do you,and, and then just collecting
that and then just asking peopleto come in.
I've I've been reluctant to doit more often than I've wanted
to because I haven't figuredout.
And maybe you can help me withthis.
I have three class periods a dayplus other class periods that
(20:26):
are not necessarily science.
And I, I don't want to dominatea person's schedule.
Do do they to be willing to stayall day or do you do one class
gets it and you record it?
Like, how do you balance out the, the, the speakers with your,
your school schedule?
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Mostly they'll they'll just come for the whole
day.
Um, when I taught eighth grade,I had five classes, so that was
easy.
That was an all day thing.
And then usually, you know, I'lloffer to go, you know, call
lunch, have lunch delivered orsnacks during the day.
I mean, feed
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Them ski
Speaker 1 (20:54):
That's yeah.
Just something kind of nicedonuts in the morning.
I mean, you'd be very surprised.
Most, most people that are inthe field are retired.
Like I said, they're, they'remore than willing to come.
And even if they have to, youwait an hour, while you teach
another class that doesn'tpertain to it, then they'll
either leave or come back orjust hang out in the back and,
(21:15):
you know, or pretend to be astudent during that history
class that you have.
So mm-hmm,
Speaker 2 (21:20):
feel guilty.
I don't think about it.
I need to think about it throughthe perspective that you do that
these peop people want to talk.
I just assume everybody's sobusy, but I do know when the
times I've had speakers come outat the end of the day, they're
so energized or they're so happyor they're, they're so grateful.
Cause there's, they're like this, this is what it's like to
(21:40):
teach every day.
I'm like, yeah, this is whatit's like.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
I think too, like a lot of parents, um, they usually
, um, being in the stops atelementary, you know, a lot of,
a lot of parents don't get theopportunity to come help out in
the classroom.
Um, mm-hmm
know, it's not, it's not verycool or just, it's not, um,
needed, you know, like in theelementary classes.
(22:03):
So a lot of times, like I said,you'd be surprised a lot of the
parents, um, they're more thanhappy to come and, um, hang out
and, um, and again, it's, it'ssome students, they don't want
their mom or dad to be there,but then, but then I, I talk it
up.
I'm like, everyone's gonna be solike impressed that your dad's a
doctor or your mom's a doctor or, um, so then I kind of like
(22:27):
downplay it like, oh, everyou're you're faking it.
It'll be fine.
Don't be embarrassed.
And like leading up to theirparent, coming into the
classroom.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Right.
Kind of redirect that energy to,yeah.
Kind of toward somethingpositive with, with guest
speakers, projects, pacing, allthese awesome things that you
have going on.
How do you find balance as ateacher, as a person?
Um, and what did, whatencouragement would you give to
new or aspiring teachers?
(22:56):
There's we, we work in aprofession that will, will take
as much as you give it and, andyou fall asleep at night, we're
in about other people's kids andwe love it.
And teachers by personality canjust give and give and give,
give and give.
But in order for us to last, I'mthinking, I'm thinking about
those new teachers who are goinginto it, who are gonna go in
and, and be there before the sungets up and stay after the sun
(23:19):
gets down.
How do they, how do you maintainbalance taking care of yourself
you've been in, in educationfor, for, uh, how long I, how
long have you been teaching for
Speaker 1 (23:29):
16?
This is my 16th.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
You've been enough to see, um, you know, be that
veteran.
So what, how do you findbalance?
And then what encouragementwould you give to, to newer
aspiring teachers?
Speaker 1 (23:39):
I would say each year, pick one or two things to
add on you can't, you can't addon 10 things, even though you're
gonna find 10 things that areawesome, but just put'em in, you
know, make a little list, put'emin a file and just every year,
just get good at what you do.
And then just add on one or twothings, um, and reflect on
(24:00):
what's not going well, that youcan get rid of, to make room, to
, to add something else.
Um, yeah.
I just think that and just, Idon't know, try to be patient
with yourself.
Um, and don't reinvent thewheel.
There's so many, um, things outthere that you can borrow and
make it your own.
(24:22):
Um, again, I think that's a timesaver, just lean on your
colleagues and, um, take lots ofnotes because then when you do
it again, next year, you canrefresh yourself and oh yeah,
this lesson, wasn't the best.
Like what can you add in to makeit a little bit better?
And yeah, I would say just takeon one or two things each year.
And then by the time you get to,you know, being a veteran, you
(24:44):
can do all these awesome thingsand it it'll, it'll feel natural
cuz you've been practicing andjust adding in one thing at a
time.
I, I coached science Olympiad abunch of years ago and um,
science Olympiad is sorewarding.
It's just, it's so amazing.
Um, but it's
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Very, what is, what is science?
Olympiad is just for the peoplewho've never heard of it.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Oh, science Olympiad is so awesome.
Google it.
Um, it's I think it's justscience, olympia.org.
Um, it's uh, 23 different eventsand um, across all disciplines
of science, different topics,and then you have a team of 15
students and then so your 15students have to cover the 23
(25:24):
events.
And then, um, so for example, ifthe students on the anatomy
team, the, uh, usually there's ateam of two kids, um, they're
gonna study and learn and they,they provide all their rules and
the guidelines.
And then, um, so the studentslearn and study whatever the
parameters or for that year.
(25:44):
And then they take a test andthen they compete against others
schools.
Um, and then there's buildevents, the engineering events,
they can build things liketraches, um, matchbox cars, um,
or mouse, trap cars.
Um, oh gosh, there's all kindsof things.
There's like a rub Goldbergdevice.
It changes every year.
And um, it's still rewarding tosee the kids.
(26:07):
They, you know, the, they picktheir area of science that they
love.
And sometimes they'll, you haveto put them on an event that
they don't know and then theyend up loving it and mm-hmm
these kids that are just on fireand you know, that like one day
they're gonna go off and doamazing things.
(26:27):
Um, and you know, they're just,and they, they, they just
commit, they, they, they committo their event and then they
just, they blow it outta thewater and then they, they win
medals and just the recognition,it's just, yeah, it's super,
it's just an amazing program.
So
Speaker 2 (26:42):
One of the, one of the competitions that's really
low tech that I've, uh, takeninto my classroom is, uh, write
at doit.
Have you done that one
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Before?
Oh yes.
Yeah.
That's one.
Yep.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
It's such a, it's such a low tech simple one to
do, but it teaches such greatskills.
And for those people who haven'theard of the write at doit
project, you, you end up, youcreate kind some abstract art
out of random crafts.
That's very difficult, kind ofto describe you have pipe
cleaners and foam and balls andyou know, all these different
(27:13):
things, you make it.
And then one person, the team isa writer and they all look at it
and they write the proceduresand then their teammate, who's
in a different room that doesn'tget to see.
It gets all the materials tobuild it and the procedures and
they have to rebuild it asclosely as possible to the
actual original, even thoughthey don't get to see the
original.
(27:33):
So they have to rely on theirpartners ability to write
procedures step by step.
Uh, and it's it, it was fun towatch my students become
teammates in that.
And they learned how to communia literally fun, uh, a really
fun competition.
So I, I expanded it to do itwith, with all of my students as
an activity, just to teach themhow to, uh, write descriptively,
to, to write procedurally, to,to be, uh, technical writers.
(27:58):
Uh, and it's, it's fun.
It's fun to see what they builtbased on the students say.
And it's also fun to watch theminteract with each other, which
for seventh graders, usuallyit's conflict.
Yeah.
But like playful conflict.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
They're like, man, are you talking about that?
Doesn't mean this, it means thisand
Speaker 2 (28:16):
I know part of me feels guilty, but not enough to
stop the project.
Cause I know it's for some of em, it's gonna be a really trial
by fire, uh, you know, and beingable to practice their, their
skills with writing procedures,
Speaker 1 (28:27):
But they're, they're learning among themselves how to
provide more details and to bemore thorough with their writing
and um, and their thoughts puttheir thoughts onto paper.
So yeah, that's a funny event.
Definitely.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Now there's uh, earlier it, you had mentioned
something about connecting yourkids with kids and students
outside of your classroom.
What is it that you do withthat?
Because I thought that was areally cool project.
Can you speak to that?
Uh, a little bit,
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Yes, I've done.
Um, uh, they haven't had it in afew years, but there's something
called the Pringles challenge.
Mm-hmm
on the internet still.
Um, and so you sign your, yousign your class up or your
classes and, um, the, you getpartnered with another school
somewhere in the us someplaceelse and you decide individually
(29:18):
teams, whatever they build.
And, uh, they make a package toship a single Pringle chip
through the mail.
And then you, you actually, youmail a Pringle chip through the
mail and then, um, your partnerteam or partner school, they
send their chips to you and thenyou open everything and then you
can take pictures and video.
(29:39):
And, um, and then there was awhole scoring process where you
would score, um, when youreceive the chips.
Um, and then you input all thedata on the website and then you
can see like how your and mostschools would trade pictures or,
um, so that the kids found outhow their chip survived March
Melo, Manus is so much fun.
Again.
(29:59):
Googled.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Did you say March?
Mamal madness?
Yes.
March Manness with mammals?
Yes.
OK.
What is
Speaker 1 (30:06):
This?
Oh, it's, it starts up in Marchand um, yeah, you can, and you
can sign your students up andthat one, again, you, it's not
too interactive with otherschools, but this is opportunity
to get the kids interactingwithin your site or within your
district, or if you have teacherfriends at other schools.
Yeah.
There's like 60, I think it's 64animals and they have this
(30:27):
massive bracket that they post.
And then, um, you can, um, havethe students, I did it, it would
be very time consuming to havethe kids individually research
each animal.
So I just gave one animal perstudent.
And so then as a class, um, weresearched all the animals and
(30:47):
then every, like, I think it'sthree days or so.
Um, they have these like boutsand it's all posted on YouTube,
Google it.
It's kind of fun.
And
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Then I've already got the website up, ready to go.
Folks, everybody who needs toGoogle this March Mamal madness.
And is it, uh, Arizona stateuniversity?
Yes.
Is that the main site ASU?
Yes.
Okay.
So people listen to this, uh,check it out March Mamal madness
so we can look, I'm doing this.
I'm already, you've already soldme on this.
It
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Is so much fun.
Oh my gosh.
And then, then the kids, um,they each like round, you know,
they pick their pick, they maketheir just like basket ball.
Then they pick their, they dotheir picks and then you wait
for the video.
Um, and they do it live on, Ithink it's live on Instagram or
the next day on YouTube.
And then the kids get allexcited.
And then usually the kids, likethey'll the whatever animal they
(31:37):
got as their research animal.
Then they're like rooting forthat one win, you know, the
whole thing.
So mm-hmm
Speaker 2 (31:42):
We still have time to, and you
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Can jump in time, even if it's already started,
you can, you can jump into it.
Um, it usually lasts, like, Ibelieve it's like a two week
from beginning to end, uh, whenthey do the first round, the
wild card and then all the wayto the winner, I believe it's a
two week process.
Oh, maybe three, actually.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
I'm already seeing this, like this lead up to the
video, like being watched inclass to see, yes, I'm already,
I'm thinking about like, how doI prevent my students from
finding the video?
Or like, when does it go live sothat I could be the one to show
them so they didn't go find itearly.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
It takes time out of the class, but I, I believe
it's, it's one of those thingswhere you have to just, it, you
know, takes 10 minutes out ofthe class, but it's, it's, it's
important.
Um, yeah.
So the, when and they have theeach round and then the next day
they release the YouTube videolast year when it got down or
the final rounds, uh, we were onspring break.
And so, um, I told my students,I was like, you guys let's do
(32:35):
some optional zooms.
And so I had a bunch of kids logon and we all watched the videos
together.
So that was kind of fun.
Um, got it.
And then this year, the otherthing that the first time I I've
ever done this, um, and it'sgoing really well is, um, on
social media, I got, I wastalking with one of the teachers
from Ohio who teaches scienceand then, um, so she, and I
decided we're gonna do pen palsfor our students this year, pay
(32:58):
paper and pen, pen pals.
And, um, so that's been a lot offun.
We just partnered up all thestudents, her students and my
students.
And then, um, once a month wesend and receive the letters to
each other.
So that's been a really cool,really cool experience.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
If you keep doing that and you need, and you need
more teachers to be involved,can my students be pen P with
your students?
Yeah.
You, uh, open up to more people.
Yeah, I think that, I think thatwould be really to get a letter
old school.
Yeah.
Letter in the mail.
It would be so exciting.
It
Speaker 1 (33:28):
Is.
I mean, and we, we mail them aslike, we, we, the, the teacher
and I, we just put them alltogether in one package, but oh
yeah.
The it's, it's an actual, likehandwritten letter.
Only
Speaker 2 (33:37):
The only letters I feel like I get in the mail in
the hour bills.
Right.
So, Uh,
Speaker 1 (33:42):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
It's like, but I feel like the, the, I feel like the,
the digital version of that isif someone calls me, it's
probably bad news.
Like, I don't know if I'm theonly one that's like that, but
like, I'm like, who's callingme.
Why aren't you texting me?
What's going on, text me first,then call.
I need to know who's going on.
And if you're unknown, you'regoing voicemail.
I dunno.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Yeah.
I know the 10,000 has been,that's been a lot of fun
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Now is you've been in education for a while.
You're, you're on the other sideof what it's like to be a
student in the classroom.
Um, and it, and which can besurreal in itself.
You know, when we think aboutour own experiences as being a
student, uh, is there a teacheror a learning experie that's had
an impact on you while you werea student in school that really,
(34:24):
that stands out to you and youcan interpret the question
however you want, but is theresomeone that's memorable and
experience that's memorable thatyou still carry with you today?
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Definitely.
Um, my, my favorite teacher andwe actually still keep in
contact on social media, um, isMrs.
Sheldon.
She was my fifth and sixth gradeteacher.
I had the pleasure when I was inelementary school.
I was in an all day containedgate class, gifted in educated,
gifted, and talented educationclass.
I just, I vividly remember doingso many amazing projects and we
(34:57):
built this big, giant.
She brought in a big old like TVbox.
It was big, big, big, and youcould stick like three kids
inside there, standing up nextshoulder shoulder.
And we built this big, um,dragon, it, we bid we the head
and then we had the whole restof the class in a big sheet
behind us.
And we would do a little paradearound the school.
(35:19):
And she had that thing for yearsafter, after they to repair it
every year.
And then they would, you know,do the little parade around
school.
She did a lot of traveling andwhen we would go on vacation and
then come back, that was alwaysthe big deal.
Like where did miss Sheldon go?
And she had, you know, standfrom Egypt and, um, pictures
from the rainforest.
And, um, and later when I becamea teacher and then I looked her
(35:42):
up and we reconnected, um, I didask her, like, did you go to
those places or did you like lieabout it?
Speaker 2 (35:52):
You, you went for like the real questions
Speaker 1 (35:54):
I did.
And I mean, she, she laughed andthought, thought that was funny.
And she did, she did travel forreal.
Um, but yeah, she's an amazingwoman.
We still keep him in contact.
And, um, just, I remember, youknow, little things, like we
would be out there doing our PEtime and she'd have her long
skirt, you know, dress on withher tennis and she's out there
(36:15):
playing kickball with us.
And, um, just, I don't know,just a very kindhearted, smart,
amazing woman.
And so, um, yeah, I, I, uh, andI'm, I'm very fortunate and I'm
grateful that we, we are able tokeep in contact and love social
media for that reason.
So,
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Yeah.
And that's Ms.
Sheldon, is that what Mrs.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
Sheldon?
Yeah.
Marlene Sheldon.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
Shout out to Marlene Sheldon and, uh, influencing the
next generation of teachers andwith engagement with your world
travels and all those differentthings.
Yeah.
(37:04):
Ryan, thank you so much for oneserving our students.
Um, and in the classroom, ourmiddle school students who, who
need us.
And I, I think that middleschool, especially elementary
school, those those years arewhen students are really
starting to decide, like, whatam I good at?
And the experiences that wecreate for our students really
(37:25):
shape what they believe they cando.
You know, these, these reallycool engaging experiences, these
projects that you're givingthem, whether they're, they're,
they're doing these car sales,shark tanks, or they're, they're
, they're, they're doing, uh,pen pals, or you have guest
speakers, or they're designingplanets.
These are things that, thatstudents don't remember or don't
(37:46):
forget.
And then when they move on to,to higher grades, they remember
more than anything, I think howthey felt about something.
Yeah.
And it sounds like you'recrafting these awesome
experiences.
And so I just wanna thank youfor your time.
Uh, I, as a teacher, it's, it'svery short and, uh, I thank you
for, for being on the podcastwith us.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
Thank you.
This has been a greatexperience.
And, um, yeah, I just, I, Ireally enjoy my students and,
uh, I feel very, very gratefuland very blessed for, for
finding where I belong.
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