Cloudy Skies & Clear Gains

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Ever wonder what flips the switch from “I don’t get it” to “I can explain it”? We sit down with educator and leader Miranda Stockton in a bustling corridor at the Continuous Improvement Conference in Lexington, Kentucky, to trace how a college love for chemistry became a mission to make learning tangible. Miranda shares the moments that changed her practice—watching students light up during hands-on labs, designing tasks that demand explanation, and leaning into NGSS-style standards that reward application over memorization.

Website: spotlight4success.com

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:06):
Welcome to Spotlight for Success by American Book
Company.
I am Devin Pintozi, your host.
We are here in the partlycloudy, wonderful Lexington,
Kentucky at the ContinuousImprovement Conference.
We are so excited, excited to behere with our special guest,
Miranda Stockton.
Miranda, thank you for joiningus today.

SPEAKER_00 (00:25):
Well, it's good to be here on this lovely cloudy
day.

SPEAKER_01 (00:29):
There we go.
Miranda, you join us uh from theuh Stockton County High School.
Is that Clinton County?

SPEAKER_00 (00:35):
Clinton, Gobledogs, Gobledogs.

SPEAKER_01 (00:38):
Clinton County High School.
So uh that's wonderful.
Uh I'd like to know uh bit aboutyour educational journey.
What decided you uh what whatmade you decide to become uh uh
go into education?

SPEAKER_00 (00:50):
Well, uh thinking back first, that wasn't my first
career choice at the beginning,but I clearly had a love for
chemistry when I uh was doing myc in my college career, and I
realized no that I think I wantto inspire other students to

(01:10):
have that same love and the lovefor science and experiencing
science the way I did.

SPEAKER_01 (01:15):
Thank you for watching Spotlight for Success.
I am Devin Pentosi, the ChiefOperating Officer of American
Book Company.
We are located here in ourheadquarters in Woodstock,
Georgia.
All of our materials are printedin the USA.
We have coursework, ebooks, andonline testing in grades in

(01:39):
mathematics, ELA, design, andsocial studies.
These materials are all designedto help students achieve higher
scores on their state specificand high status assessment.
We guarantee score improvement.
You can get free samples of ourmaterials either in print or in

(01:59):
electronic formats atabck12.com.
We look forward to hearing fromyou.

SPEAKER_00 (02:06):
To be engaged with it.

SPEAKER_01 (02:08):
That's great.
And uh do you have any specialmoments uh when you were uh
teaching students that you feltlike, gosh, this is why I got
into education?

SPEAKER_00 (02:17):
Oh, absolutely.
When you f when you see astudent connect with with what
you're uh with the hands-on,specifically in science, that
was like a key factor.
Understanding the why was suchan eye-opener.
Of course, it's been a whileI've moved out of the classroom,
uh, and so I see it from acompletely different perspective

(02:37):
now, but it doesn't change.
It's it's them seeing those thatare inspired and engaged.

SPEAKER_01 (02:43):
That's wonderful.
Have you enjoyed the transitionas Kentucky has moved into the
NGSS uh style standards?

SPEAKER_00 (02:51):
Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 (02:52):
Yeah, more practical application.

SPEAKER_00 (02:54):
Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 (02:55):
Yeah, that's that's great.
I've I've appreciated uh workingwith those materials myself in
the company, and then justseeing uh seeing all the
practical applications beingadded into the science, I think
makes it so much more relevant.
Um can you tell me a bit,Monica, about uh I understand
that um uh during your careeryou've used ABC materials in the

(03:17):
past?

SPEAKER_00 (03:17):
Yes, we have.
Uh we actually had a big declinein our social studies, and then
we had sought out differentsources for high quality
resources, and ABC was one ofthose that we rolled out and
then saw a big jump that verynext year after utilizing the
materials.

SPEAKER_01 (03:37):
That's wonderful.
So happy to hear that.
And that was with the the KSAbooks?

SPEAKER_00 (03:41):
That was with our KSA books.
Wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 (03:44):
That's so great.
Um is there anything you'd liketo uh is there anything uh you
hope to take away from thisconference that you could share
with the Oh absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 (03:53):
It's connecting, making connections with other
people while you're here,looking at best practices,
seeing what others are doing,what's working, and the
challenges that they face, andand just connecting in that way.
That way we can maybe overcomeour challenges that we're seeing
by doing some of the things thatother schools and districts are
doing.

SPEAKER_01 (04:12):
Oh, that is so wonderful.
Uh wow.
Well, I really appreciated uhyou being able to come on to
speak with us today.
Again, this is Monica Stockton.
She comes to us uh Miranda.

unknown (04:24):
It's okay.

SPEAKER_01 (04:24):
Miranda, this is Miranda Stockton coming to us
from uh Clinton High School.
Thank you for joining us today,Miranda.

SPEAKER_00 (04:32):
Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 (04:32):
Bye bye.