Hey, like that for your wake up good morning alarm busted pencils fully
let it education talk educated educators talking education. I am Dr. Tim
Lecker here with Dr. Johnny Lupinachi and yes of course Jacob the chit chit chit
there Johnny laughed the chairman of the board there he is Jacob Monday morning
home room and yeah it's here it's August and just want to let you guys know I
signed up and we'll be taking part of this week in one of my favorite events
on campus moving day and moving day is where you know faculty everybody we get
assigned small groups we get a cool you know university t-shirt that
points us out as the moving crew and as those freshmen come rolling in with
their parents and their suitcases and their computers and their snowboards and
all those things we hike that stuff up into their little four by four square
that's going to be home for the next year and get to enjoy all that so I I'm
actually excited for back to school Johnny I said I love you know moving day I
have now been at this will be you know my fifth institution and every one of
them I've I've show up and sign up and just spend the day you know lugging
stuff and talking to parents because I think it's one of those opportunities to
really create a sense of welcome and sense of belonging to families right from
the very beginning and so I'm actually very excited about waking up this week
and knowing it's back to school that's what I'm excited about on this Monday
morning home room Johnny well yeah Tim I'm still coming off of the amazing
Saturday show with eat with Dr. Ethan Segal right that was a good one man
if you didn't if listener you didn't get to grab it go back and grab that you
know full podcast with you know astrophysicist Ethan Segal was a great
conversation always love what he has to share and you know so that was
inspiring and I'm fully in the swing of it this week it's you know back to
classrooms as it is for so many teachers who are getting their classrooms
ready for you know students to show up at the end of the month or some of
them in the first week of September but yeah Tim we are turning that page from
summer to fall as we enter into that beginning of the school year stuff that's
happening I think I mentioned it on producer's choice last week you know I was
last week getting syllabi ready for the semester and working together in our
teaching teams to figure out you know what the semester looks like so
solidarity with all your teachers out there if you haven't started your
professional development days or you're not already getting your classrooms
decorated in things that's coming if not this week then for sure the next but
you know most of the country Tim has head back to the classroom so it's
exciting times we're back in it out of the offseason and into kind of like
profile right now preseason we're gearing up and it will be right into the
season before we know it exciting stuff man yeah I you know it is that time of
year and you know there was something in and actually I know people are like
you guys are excited about back to school hey look we've been dealing with the
back to school ad since what the third of July you know so I'm kind of over
the shock part of going you know like I'm looking forward to it and here you
know in Pennsylvania in August if you look closely some of the leaves are
starting to turn a little bit already and we've got to experience a couple of
those August nights that let you know that fall is around the corner the
humidity's gone there's a little bit of a dip in the temperature and seeing
those those leaves you know and this was me actually helping my daughter move
in to her new place in Morgantown in the mountains of West Virginia and
driving through Morgantown and going okay fall is here they're gearing up all
around you know WVU Morgantown getting ready football players are there and
you know yeah yeah I get past that kind of oh my god it's back to school
ready to going into the where I'm at right now Johnny which is man I'm I'm
excited I feel it there's a there's an energy and a buzz that that just makes
this all kind of go like let's do it let's bring it on you know I'm I'm
excited and so I just want that excitement to be something that I'm hoping
that you know every teacher every you know special education paraprofessional
out there every principle right every faculty member every new faculty member
you're starting your first tenure track position at a university you got to be
feeling that excitement because it's the first time right you know it's just
like and people are like you know what is it about you know education like how
do you guys keep doing it I think it's that Johnny is also realizing that you
know whether you're a first year teacher first year assistant professor first
year vice principal 25th year principal and or full professor dean or whatever
you ask those people who you can see it in what it is and they're like you
know what when the start of school comes there's something about it that
creates a bubbling inside where it's like yeah I get to get back to doing the
things that have always driven me and that is you know getting into those
spaces where you can have deep relationship centered around teaching around
learning around you know again just being able to be with people who are
coming together in a sense to say man I want to learn something you know and I
know there's a fifth grade teacher out there going right now you don't know the
fifth graders I'm about to get this year's lecker yes I do I do and I can tell
you this the other thing though too almost all of those kids themselves are
very excited about coming back to school and so I just really try to frame this
is yeah you know what I'll moan and whine in in the end of June and July when
back to school commercialization hits way too fast and too hard but man when
August hits leaves turn feel a little bit of coolness in the air
start hearing about Pittsburgh Steeler training camp and man I'm like okay we're
back speaking of training camp I want to know Tim did you volunteer to help
your daughter move to prepare for moving day is that like this is your preseason
that was my that was my preseason warm up and Jacob I can tell you that
carrying a couch up three flights of stairs to an apartment
I am need to be on the side of those people that say I can help guide you
so yeah back back is hurting a little bit right now so but no I again love it doing that stuff
and you know and people are like man do you have to carry all that heavy stuff for them
actually you know what show up grab grab a bag of of their books or something like that
and just carry so it's more about being there and and being in in in a place that you know
because and now I'm talking about back to school particularly for college and particularly
for those first semester freshmen the freshmen and their families are really on a kind of edge
because it's a unique new experience and so being there they just value you because you're there
Johnny yeah Tim I mean well this is just getting into essence of like what it means to be an
educator if we just know do the etymology of the word educator you know and to carry to be present
at the birth of like new growth and then move in is a big time I mean this is a monumental step
for so many young people as they sort of turn that page of a chapter in their life and move
into a new chapter an exciting one that education is sort of centered in but it's one of those
experiences that you know educators do in fact make a huge impact being present at it both in
their own sort of you know like joy but you know and it lasts with students too you know Tim also as
we think about heading into the classroom and this you know light bulb went off in my head when
you had said you know so many firsts for teachers and exciting things we have been pretty critical
of learning loss here on busted pencils I just want to throw a shout out to all those kindergarten
teachers this year who are going to have the COVID babies now as their kindergarten students
so this is an interesting era and and on that spirit you know Tim we talk about the offseason and
I thought I'd just you know share in home room today one of the exciting things that came out of
many of our discussions and working with teachers and you know I start my offseason in the summer
in the spring with talking to so many teachers about what's going on in their classrooms what
things are happening what are they working on what do we want to work on and co-learn together
through the summer as we hone our craft even though I'm a veteran you know every year I can learn
something new to bring in and certainly we've talked a lot about AI for many other shows there's a
lot of ways that you know AI is part of our classrooms that we're implementing and working with as
a powerful tool but Tim you'll love this one especially as we talk about combating learning loss
students especially our young students let's talk about all those kindergarten teachers they're
going to have those covid babies you know now in their classrooms as they start kindergarten
this year but we know that the young learners especially all of them but especially our young
learners had a very different experience in their early forming years I'm not saying it's bad
or good or anything we're learning about it but it's different and and all the teachers and I
with that I've talked to a group of us got together somewhere we thought what's a useful tool
to have you know this fall to think about as we go into our next teaching year
and we drafted a set of sample letters right that are communication tools with families
that are you know sort of not not universal one-size-fits-all but you know have kind of a pre-thought-out
format and a chart where teachers can you know we're every teacherless not there knows is we're
burdened with measuring our students learning right now we're in an era of like like it's
hyperfixated on what are their test scores you know what is their learning and that's where I'm
coming back around to that learning loss thing Tim that you and I both cringe when we hear
because we know there was no lost learning it was just different learning than it had been for so
many years but one of the things is in this era of not only high stakes testing but extreme testing
and measurement and expectations earlier and earlier for students we tend to often be as
teachers communicating academic successes that as though that's all that matters right how they
did on tests or where they're at with their reading and that stops important so I'm not here saying
like hey a group of teachers and I we decided to throw that out no but we decided what would help
us be more human with this what would help us connect to these amazing young people and their
families and and pre drafting these letters that communicate some of the important often shadowed
things about kids you know they're kindness the way they work cooperatively with other students
you know they're artistic or creative abilities you know they're they're you know they're listening
they're different things that somehow fell off the radar of what we report you know to parents
and and and to our higher ups on what's happening in our classroom and and I get it we all fall
into it in fact even myself I have older students you know I'm giving feedback all the time but it's
primarily academic feedback and yes that's very important but let's not forget about all the other
stuff so Tim we drafted some letters you can ask me more about them on future class and sessions
or something I'll share a few of them we can pop them into the chats you can tease those a little
bit but we wrote these letters and we created these charts and checklists around you know how are we
recognizing the whole student and how are we giving feedback that said like hey here's where
their academic progress is but here's a whole bunch of other stuff about Timmy or Johnny or Jacob
right that is unique and that they're really you know doing great with or they've really shown growth
around and so just remembering for all you great teachers out there you're like yeah that's what we do
but what Tim and I are noticing is that far too often that's fallen into the cracks and it's something
we loved about being teachers Tim you know there's no annual report for move in day but there's
things you'll notice from your students happening on move in day that will help you kind of relate
to them see them as they go through their academic journey and you can say wow I remember on move
in day when you were here and now you've made all these new friends and you know your social like
there's all kinds of ways that we can give feedback and positive growth measurement on some of these
things that you know just are about being human about being part of a community which remember
our schools are where we learn to be in community with one another and if us teachers we're not
scaffolding that we're not saying hey you're these are really important things then we kind of go
through the motions and school is school right and we lose sight of those important aspects of
democracy so Tim I'm excited about that we're getting our letters together we're getting together
with students students are moving in teachers are decorating your classrooms I'm sure with some of
the most amazing you know one of my favorite things and then I'll move us on because we're going
long for a home room day but Tim one of my favorite things about football is what all my former
students who are now teachers start posting on their social medias their classrooms their their
built in boards their stations they're really cool exciting things so teacher if you're listening
out there you have it make sure you share those awesome things your plan and for your students
you're getting that classroom ready to be that exciting learning space for all students you know
get those pictures out there it's not just Tim and Johnny who look at those it's all these other
teachers it's contagious and great teaching is something every kid in this country deserves
so show them your stuff show us your stuff and with that Tim I think it's time for a moment of zin
it is the citizenry rather than the government that is the ultimate source of power and the locomotive
that pulls the train of government in the direction of equality and justice
hey oh listen there thanks for listening to busted pencils home room today and remember
you can always grab other podcasts filled with more busted pencils content on apple podcast
Spotify or wherever it is you get podcasts from but of course you know you can always find us
at civic media's website or on our website at busted pencils calm and remember even though this
was a brilliant home room get in touch with us on Wednesday for class in session and don't forget
on Fridays you can catch producer Jacobs choice and of course I would be a miss to forget to
remind you that busted pencils broadcast airs on Saturdays at 3 p.m. central time across all the
civic media network stations for that one hour of your favorite blue collar scholar Tim and Johnny
a keep busted pencils
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