The Transition to High School, with Ann Bucher

Transitioning to high school is more than just moving up a grade. It’s a full developmental leap. At the heart of this episode is the theme of managing transitions, and our guest, Ann Bucher, brings her unique perspective as both a new high school teacher and a veteran middle school educator. She reflects candidly on the challenges her freshmen face, from learning how to manage time and meet deadlines to understanding that GPA and credits now carry real consequences.

Ann emphasizes the power of structure and repetition, noting that even high schoolers benefit from routines and clearly defined expectations. “I want to hold you accountable for your learning,” she tells her students, “but I also want to be real with you that we’re not all going to be perfect all the time.” Her story underscores the importance of grace, honesty, and modeling growth, for students and teachers alike, as they navigate the shifting demands of high school and beyond. Visit AVID Open Access to learn more.

Transcript

Unpacking Education Podcast Transcript

The Transition to High School, with Ann Bucher

Ann Bucher 0:00
It's been really interesting going through this transitory period with both myself as an educator, figuring out how to operate in this high school world, but starting to see what it's like for freshmen finding their footing in the high school world.

Winston Benjamin 0:16
The topic for today's podcast is the transition to high school with Ann Bucher.

Winston Benjamin 0:23
Unpacking Education is brought to you by AVID. AVID believes in seeing the potential of every student. To learn more about AVID, visit their website at avid.org.

Rena Clark 0:35
Welcome to Unpacking Education, the podcast where we explore current issues and best practices in education.

Rena Clark 0:45
I'm Rena Clark.

Paul Beckermann 0:46
I'm Paul Beckermann.

Winston Benjamin 0:48
And I'm Winston Benjamin. We are educators, and

Paul Beckermann 0:52
we're here to share insights and actionable strategies.

Transition Music with Rena's Children 0:56
Education is our passport to the future.

Winston Benjamin 1:01
Our quote for today is from John F. Kennedy. He says, "Change is the law of life, and those who look only to the past or to the present are certain to miss the future."

Winston Benjamin 1:15
I love that one. What are y'all thinking? Paul? Rena?

Paul Beckermann 1:18
I'm hanging on "only." I mean, that's the key word for me. We can't look only to the past or only to the present. That's not enough. We need to consider the future within that context as well. And as educators, we're preparing students for the future, so we definitely need to be in tune with the trends that are shaping that future. That could be some things coming from the past, some from the present. We can't stick our heads in the ground and stop learning or growing. We have to grow with the changing times so we can prepare students for that future. That's what I'm thinking about.

Rena Clark 1:52
Yes, and I think we also need to acknowledge that this takes work and effort, and most of all, time. So staying connected to trends, what's going on in the future—it doesn't just magically happen. We have to be intentional, be paying attention to what's going on in the world, in education, and in the lives of our students. Pay attention to what they're saying and their families, and that means creating time, which can be difficult. Sometimes there are opportunities—it's more creating those opportunities to learn. And then I also think creating networks between families, students, and even local businesses and communities. Or if you have a good network of friends, if you're lucky enough, we have on this podcast, you create this network so you learn what's going on and bring in those outside resources and trends and just be informed. That's part of the literacies that we're trying to model and teach for our students too, right?

Winston Benjamin 2:58
I love how you combine both the present, past, and the future in both your answers. And we are excited to bring a friend of mine, Ann Bucher. Thank you. Welcome to the podcast. Ann is in her eighth year of teaching. She started her career in middle school, but now is a high school science teacher at Hazen High School in Renton in the Renton School District in Renton, Washington. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you for coming.

Ann Bucher 3:30
Hello, hello. Thanks for having me.

Winston Benjamin 3:33
We always want to ground our conversation in who our guests are. So can you tell our listeners a little bit more about yourself and your journey into education?

Ann Bucher 3:44
Yeah, so I'm a Renton local product of the Renton School District. Went to Lakeridge Elementary, Dimmitt Middle School, and graduated from Renton High in 2010. And I went to college, not thinking I was going into education in the slightest. I thought I was going into research, but I had a great opportunity in my senior year—I was a TA for a bio course while also working in a lab. And I realized one thing was filling my cup and filling my soul, and the other one was draining me and leaving me feeling shiftless in life. And TA-ing was that eye-opener that got me thinking about education as a career.

I'd always been a teacher and helper in many settings, but never thought that I was going into education. So of course, I had to then get a job with the Renton School District as a paraprofessional to test the waters, see if I wanted to truly jump in and commit. I got my master's degree through SPU, did my student teaching with Renton, and got a job with Nelson and was there for seven years before I made the switch up to Hazen.

And outside the classroom, I actually know two of the hosts, because Rena and I are also in the Renton City Concert Band, repping the alto sax section.

Rena Clark 5:15
We've actually gotten to know each other a lot and gone through a lot of changes the last few years together, so she's actually been a good friend and support.

Paul Beckermann 5:27
Awesome. Well, so I need to get to know you a little better. Tell me about this experience growing up in the same district that you end up getting hired in. What's that been for you?

Ann Bucher 5:41
Renton, for being a city of 100,000 people, can really feel a small town, and I want to give back to the same district that I was part of, because I have so many wonderful memories from classrooms in the Renton School District. In fact, unbeknownst to me, when I wrote my letter of intent for applying for the high school position—because I had taught seven years at Nelson and was feeling ready for a new change—I wrote about my eighth grade science teacher, Miss Code, and my journey and pathway and all these wonderful experiences I had. Her classroom is currently right below mine at Hazen. She's teaching environmental science and is now a colleague of mine, so it's been wonderful getting to feel I'm coming full circle.

I've taught one of my classmates' children—actually more than one at this point. I've seen already that next generation coming through, which has been really interesting.

Paul Beckermann 6:51
Cool.

Rena Clark 6:54
So you started your career, of all places, in middle school. And it's so funny, because actually Winston and I are now in our careers in middle school. I started elementary, went to high school, now I'm in middle school. So I would just love to hear what it was to start in middle school, and what was something you learned from that experience that's really helping you as an educator? Because I know that takes a lot.

Ann Bucher 7:24
Yeah, it does. It does take a lot. Middle school education definitely teaches you to roll with the punches, be ready for very keen experiences day to day. It's a very emotionally driven time for students. So I definitely got a lot of firsthand experience on how to build relationships with students and the importance of relating to students on the personal, human level, and not just as a student to be educated, but a fully fledged person—getting to know their interests, getting to know what makes them tick, to be able to then have a successful classroom dynamic. Because you put 32 young adults in one space with technology and phones and all that, and you need to know your kids to be able to make that work.

Winston Benjamin 8:30
I love that. One of the best things that you took away from that experience is getting to know your kids. Because a lot of times we think about the academic experience, and we don't think about the social experience of middle school, learning how to be those adults. But now you're in high school, which is a totally different beast. What was that transition? What's the transition from middle school to high school? How has that been different for you?

Ann Bucher 9:04
It's been eye-opening in a lot of ways, seeing the next stage, the next evolution of students' pathways. I taught seventh grade for so long, but now I'm working with freshmen—the level up in their own personal responsibility, but also the areas where they're still developing that sense of personal responsibility, that sense of self, finding their footing in a much more adult world.

I always enjoyed middle school for the fact that they're out of the elementary classroom that is such a regimented, structured place where they stay with the same teacher. In middle school, it's all the doors get flung open, I thought. But now it's high school—there's a whole other level of experiences for students to be getting involved with, to be showing their interest in, the ownership. There's so many different clubs and activities that are happening. Just today, the Black Student Union did a Thanksgiving meal that you could, as a fundraiser, purchase a plate, come through. But seeing their pride and their engagement with creating this wonderful meal—one thing I always felt was lacking a bit in middle school was that sense of "this really matters" for students, from the academic side, but also just that full-on engagement.

I sometimes feel middle school ends up being the training ground—the grades don't matter in the sense that there is a GPA and a transcript, and you don't move up to the next grade level without passing in high school. There's this extra onus of you've got to get the credit. You have to actually pass the class to be on a pathway to being able to successfully graduate.

So it's been really interesting going through this transitory period with both myself as an educator, figuring out how to operate in this high school world, but starting to see what it's like for freshmen finding their footing in the high school world.

Paul Beckermann 11:16
Let me ask you about that a little bit, because in some sense, you're going through a similar transition to what the students are going through when they go from eighth grade up to ninth grade. So how has that experience that you are experiencing helped you help the students make the transition?

Ann Bucher 11:34
I mean, I think one thing that helps me help the students in seeing the transition is I've been very upfront with them. And this is a tenet of my classroom management—I am real with the students. I'm very upfront and honest. I taught seven years of middle school. This is the experience I have. I'm figuring this out with you, and I intentionally model for students, "Hey, yeah, I know that wasn't great. We're going to try this next thing. I'm going to take feedback from you from this trimester."

Throughout the trimester, I literally had my classes for finals today doing a reflection survey where I was asking them, "How well do you feel you learned the content in each of these units? Why do you feel that way?" Looking back at those scores, I'm planning on using that to help guide what I modify next trimester.

So I model that with the students, but then also bring that understanding into being, "Okay, look, you're figuring high school out. I'm going to give you some extra opportunities to submit assignments that technically my syllabus and the guidelines I set, I wasn't going to. But I'm going to give you an extra chance, because you're still figuring this out, and I want to hold you accountable for your learning. But I also want to be real with you that we're not all going to be perfect all the time at getting things done by a deadline. And if you show a good faith effort to improve, I'm going to help you make that improvement."

Rena Clark 13:07
So here's what's interesting. You actually—now we say you started your teaching career at middle school, but you actually started in the elementary school. Because I actually happened to be there when you worked at that same elementary school, and also with a different perspective as a parent educator. And so all of those experiences, thinking that elementary to middle to now high school—and I happen to know, because I was working with high school teachers, and I always was thinking, "Y'all need a little more elementary in your room, a little more structure." Kids still need that structure. And hey, I even sing with my kids, and it works.

But so I'm just curious, what's something—maybe you learned a skill, a technique, an experience—that has really helped you with high school that you've pulled from those other experiences?

Ann Bucher 14:00
Repetition, repetition, and more repetition. Just hearing from some of my students about experiences in their other high school classes—they're saying, "Yeah, the teacher explained it once and then told us to go on to this thing, and that's all we got." And I think back to middle school and needing to re-explain and remind and re-explain assignments, expectations, guidelines.

So I intentionally front-load, and maybe I over-explain or over-remind, but I'd rather err on that side, because then there's less of a reason for students to disconnect and be confused about what they're supposed to be doing or not know the expectations. Because one of the easiest ways, I think, for students to become just chronically disengaged in the classroom is when they miss those connecting pieces of "What were we doing? Where are we going? What's the purpose? What's coming next?"

I always front-load. I always have my schedule up. I always make sure that I am very intentional with, "Yes, we're taking the final a day early so that next week you can do revisions. I'm building in the structure for you, students."

Winston Benjamin 15:20
Here's—I'm going to ask a follow-up to that, and then jump to another question. How have the students responded to that over-explanation? And thinking about how they share about their other teachers, what are their conversations? Do they feel they're not being allowed to be an adult? Do they feel you're middle-schooling them? How are their conversations? A lot, because I can imagine, "I can do this. I don't need you to tell me."

Ann Bucher 15:52
I will say I haven't gotten any of that. More so I get the one who's, "Wait, what?" And their friends go, "Dude, she already explained it to you. What are you talking about?" And I get more of a sense of appreciation, because I'm just reminding them and being aware, "Yo, you have four other classes, plus whatever clubs or sports or other things, and you are still a teenage brain with an underdeveloped prefrontal cortex that's trying to figure out how to manage all this input, plus the input from technology. Y'all got a lot going on in your brain."

And so I make sure I take the time at the start of classes. "This is what we're doing. Here's our objective. Remember what we were doing yesterday?" I have them do a daily warm-up. They write down the objective, they answer the warm-up question. We're still building in that routine, because I want them to be thinking about what we're doing and why we're doing it.

Winston Benjamin 16:54
So part of the thing that's always in every conversation when we talk about school is this thing, this monster that might be supportive, might not be, called AI, right? Kids—there's a lot of conversation about its value or academic integrity. What are your thoughts around that topic? And how does it support or how do you use it to support student engagement? I opened Pandora's box.

Ann Bucher 17:30
Yeah, Pandora's box. I have many mixed feelings around AI in broader cultural context, but also within a classroom context, because I believe more so for educators, AI can be a supportive tool in a generative sense to streamline some workflows and processes, especially when we're trying to do things differentiation or UDL with multiple modalities for students to engage with something.

I might use AI—and I have before—to take the transcript from a YouTube video, throw it into this AI tool that can generate some potential short answer response or short answer style questions off of it. I can then proofread it and use it for a potential assignment. It speeds up my process. I have a lot of other things that I'm trying to get done just in a day of education, as we all know from our own classroom experiences. So I see some limited value on that side, knowing the realities of what I need to get done in the day. But I also use it judiciously, and not for every assignment in every context. It's a limited-use tool.

I worry about students becoming reliant on a supportive tool without actually developing the fundamental skill that is being used in that tool, and then not developing critical thinking and reasoning around what the tool is telling them. I consider myself to be proficient in watching a video and generating questions. This is a skill that I already possess and am proficient at, so I can use this tool to make my life a little bit easier.

For a student who has not yet demonstrated independent proficiency at analyzing an informational video, identifying the main ideas, being able to develop different levels of questions around those main ideas—if you don't have that proficiency yet, you shouldn't be relying on this tool to cover your lack of proficiency. And I think there's a big difference between AI in the sense of using spell check, or the intrusiveness of Grammarly sometimes with doing the AI suggestions, all the way up to students using full-on generative tools for creating essay answers or assignments.

So I'm glad that we have GoGuardian for teachers in my classroom, that at least when my students are within my space, I can regulate their ability to access AI tools and make them actually bring their independent skills to bear on assignments. I can lock down their ability to access AI websites. I straight up have Google blocked most of the time on my GoGuardian settings for students because of Google's generative AI text and summaries that are popping up at the beginning of searches, because I want students to actually independently develop those skills and not be reliant on a technological crutch to get them over gaps in their knowledge or skills.

Paul Beckermann 21:20
Yeah, the whole AI thing causes lots of conflicting feelings for a lot of teachers. So you mentioned the fact that you want to make sure that your students build the skills that they will need to be successful. And AVID, actually, is one avenue that schools have used to help students build some of those study skills and skills that they can use to be successful. Now, do I understand correctly that your school used to have AVID but no longer does? Is that correct?

Ann Bucher 21:52
Yeah, there was an AVID grant cohort that I believe existed within the Renton School District for five or six years. I believe they started with seventh graders and continued through, with their senior year graduation just having happened. But the grant money is no more, so there's no longer a formal AVID program within the district that I'm aware of.

Paul Beckermann 22:18
Sure. So I'm curious, without—in the absence of a formal AVID program—are there ways that you and your colleagues are still letting some of those habits and strategies carry on in your school?

Ann Bucher 22:34
Yeah, it's an interesting series of luck with the exact position I landed into, because I'm teaching all freshmen. But something that was developed before I was hired on to Hazen, but I'm working with the cohort of, is this idea of a ninth grade success cohort. So there's a larger ninth grade success team, and we're focusing on all ninth grade success. I believe a partnership is through CHSSS, which is the Center for High School Student Success, or something. I do not remember the exact acronym.

So there was already this ninth grade success program, but the teacher who had been teaching the AVID cohort fought for and got this program where she has two classes of a College and Career Success class of ninth graders who are then also cohorted so that they have the same teachers for biology, for algebra, for language arts, for health. I won't see these students in the next trimester because we're on a trimester schedule, and bio is just A and B, but I will have those same two classes of students third trimester.

And in the College and Career Success class, they're being taught a lot of intentional organization skills. They're also being taught and guided through some career preparation. They're doing tutorials both within their classroom and then in partnership with some seniors and juniors to get some more of those study skills, but also just specific topical areas that they're struggling on.

And it's been nice to have that, because then I've been able to work with the cohort teachers when students are struggling, and we're focusing on "What do these freshmen who elected to be in the cohort because they wanted help with the transition into ninth grade need?" It's been nice to have that smaller team in a building that is 1,700 or so students in total. So the freshman class is 400 kids or something that.

Paul Beckermann 25:00
Yeah, I can see that being very helpful.

Ann Bucher 25:05
Yeah.

Rena Clark 25:05
So it sounds the students are learning a lot of what we call soft skills, or critical skills, as one of our guests called them. And then they're applying those skills, not only in that class, but then across the other classes. So they go to those other classes together as a cohort—that cohort stays together for the most part?

Ann Bucher 25:24
Yes, for some better and some worse in terms of dynamics. It'll be good, I think, second trimester for some of them to have a little bit of a break when they don't have bio or health. But yes, they do actually have largely the same periods together as well.

Rena Clark 25:46
Yeah, that's—it's so important for them to build up those skills, because we often talk about sometimes that's the hidden curriculum, or different students have opportunities to develop those skills depending on their background or where they're coming from. And I'm just curious, as a high school teacher now, if you see—how important is it for students to have or develop those soft skills that lead to independence? And you're a freshman teacher, but you have colleagues, and you see what that's going to lead to as they get to 11th, 12th grade.

Ann Bucher 26:24
Yeah, the soft skills—communication, time management, organization, collaboration—all of those skills are really important for students to attain. And I can definitely see the difference in students who already have some of those skills pretty well established and those that are still building them, and which students are struggling more to just stay on top of the grades and the responsibilities and all the different things that they have coming their way as high school students.

Middle school is just a taste of the level of responsibility that they really have. And then also with the switch from standards-based grading to an A to F percentage scale that they're struggling to understand—"What does this mean? Wait, a 0% in the grade book does what to my grade?"—and trying to process and stay on top of all those things.

So that's part of why, I was saying earlier, I sometimes over-inform, because I want them to have all of the information available to them to be able to process and not necessarily make assumptions that they were always clued in or paying attention. Because another soft skill is that ability to, in the modern student parlance, "lock in" or focus. Because they do have so many different things indicating their brains at any given moment. And grades are real.

And I have students who unfortunately are learning the hard way this trimester that high school grades are real. You move on to a new class and a new trimester, and if you fail that class, that means you did not earn the credit, and that is going to impact your ability to graduate. Which is not something that they really get as a message at all in middle school, because that's not the middle school grading experience.

So they need to learn how to keep track of what assignments are due when, what's most important to get done first. How do I collaborate when the teacher assigns a group project and we have a short timeframe and we maybe only have one or two classes together? How do I communicate with a teacher when I'm struggling or behind or was absent, and I'm expected to still be staying on top of the work? I can do everything I can as an educator to support them, to give them structure, to provide resources, but they also have to learn how to engage with those resources and do their part.

It's that old adage of we can lead a horse to water, but you can't make a horse drink the water. We're trying to get students to be able to independently do these things and hopefully navigate the transition successfully. This is why I'm glad to be part of some of these ninth grade success programs to make sure that they are making this transition.

Winston Benjamin 29:42
So I love that you're supporting the transition into high school, but there's an even bigger transition. As you said, we keep opening the doors and we slam them wide open from elementary to middle to high school, and then beyond high school, the doors open up even more, right? As you work with your freshmen, you work with them in creating a high school and beyond plan, correct?

Ann Bucher 30:12
Yes, we use a program called SchoolLinks, which is the statewide replacement of an old program called Xello, but it's all about high school and beyond planning.

Winston Benjamin 30:24
How do these soft skills and hard skills support students as they're starting to think about their transition out of high school? You have them in their freshman year, they're starting to think about beyond high school. Why are those skills important for them to think about post-high school? Because you spoke about the skills needed to be successful as a student. How are they successful beyond being students?

Ann Bucher 30:50
I mean, as part of us helping them contextualize moving from being in this school world, which is the main world that they have really known since they have been independent thinking humans—they have known school, they have been in a classroom, they have been a student. But each level of doors being thrown open is also a layer of safety nets that have been pulled back. There's fewer guardrails, there's fewer cushions for them.

So I think it's really valuable that we spend the time getting them to think about "What are your next steps?" Realistically and practically, not just the "I want to be a YouTuber" response that seems to have become the most common one from middle school students, but getting them to think practically, realistically. What are you good at? What are you really interested in? What makes you happy? What do you talk about, engage with? What are some of these clubs that you're starting to get involved with?

Look, here are some internship opportunities, job shadow things that SchoolLinks actually pulls in and can show them directly in their area—not something that I can take credit for, but I think that's a nice feature of the program. And something that I've tried to highlight when we've done some of the lessons and activities in SchoolLinks is, "Look, we're trying to—literally the name is right there—link you to what happens after school."

Because school does not last forever. You will not be a student forever. I mean, you can keep going in education, go on, get more degrees. But even when you're doing that, once you are out of 12th grade, you're now operating in this world as an adult, where you will need to be able to communicate with bosses or teammates or collaborators. You will need to have that sense of personal responsibility. You'll need to be able to take ownership when things don't go the way they're supposed to.

And I try to model that within the classroom too. If I say, "Hey, I'm going to make new seating charts," for example, and then the next day comes and I haven't had time to make the seating chart because of X, Y, Z, whatever reason, I'll address it with the students. I don't pretend that didn't happen. I straight up tell them, "Look, sorry. Things came up yesterday. I didn't have time to do it. My bad. I'm going to try to get this thing done." Showing them that even as an adult, I might say I'm going to try to do something. It might not happen. That's okay, but you have to acknowledge it and take ownership of it as you move forward. Trying to sweep stuff under the rug isn't going to get you anywhere.

Rena Clark 33:35
No. All right. So to wrap it up, you've gone through this transition, there's a lot going on. What's been on your mind lately? What have you been pondering about?

Ann Bucher 33:48
Oh, this might sound silly, but one of the main ponderings is how to keep my classroom plants alive in a building that is undergoing construction and a room that seems to be cold all the time.

Rena Clark 34:01
That is, of course, a biology teacher wondering about plants. I love it.

Ann Bucher 34:06
I'm a bio teacher. I came from—well, I had to leave half of my classroom jungle behind at Nelson, because my room at Hazen already had fewer windows, and apparently the room runs cold. And Hazen is undergoing a four-year phased modernization and seismic retrofitting upgrade process. So I'm just starting to get wintry. It's getting cold. Will my plants make it? I have some plants that I've had since I was a paraprofessional in a windowless classroom at Kennydale that I've kept alive, and I would to keep them alive through this winter too.

Rena Clark 34:47
That sounds a good real-life problem that students could help solve.

Ann Bucher 34:52
I do teach about photosynthesis in Bio A, and we do talk about temperature, and I have already referenced my plants with students. I'm, "See how that one looks sad? It's tropical, and it doesn't the cold, just you complain about the cold every time you walk in."

Paul Beckermann 35:08
Real world learning.

Winston Benjamin 35:09
I totally understand that.

Ann Bucher 35:13
Well, yeah, Winston, you know my jungle that I used to have.

Paul Beckermann 35:18
All right. With that, I think it's time for us to jump into our toolkit.

Transition Music with Rena's Children 35:21
Check it out. Check it out. Check it out. What's in the toolkit? Check it out.

Paul Beckermann 35:33
All right. Toolkit time. Today, Rena, what's in your toolkit?

Rena Clark 35:37
Well, we've talked a lot about the soft—it was called critical skills. So it's just one strategy, if you don't have a whole huge program, it's a soft skill spotlight. So taking three minutes or less to just directly teach or model out loud a soft skill—how to model an email if you're writing it. Literally project your screen if it's appropriate, and model how to write an appropriate email, how to organize your folders or binders or your digital stuff, how to ask clarifying questions. This is one—calling or scheduling something and having students actually listen to you call on the phone, and model that, because they do not talk on a phone anymore, making practice phone calls.

Paul Beckermann 36:20
You can do that, Rena? You can talk on phones?

Rena Clark 36:23
I'm going to be honest, and I don't think any of them listen to this, but some of my younger colleagues—they don't call on the phone either. So calling parents for them is a horrifying experience. Just because it's new. It's not something—they didn't grow up calling on the phone. So it's interesting. It's generational, I believe, as well. But small doses, huge impact on success, just opportunities.

Paul Beckermann 36:51
Yeah. Winston, what's in your toolkit today?

Winston Benjamin 36:54
Reminders and organization, right? I deal with middle schoolers right now. And yes, it's the "Hey, you have to do this. Hey, remember, this is coming. Hey," so just trying to be ahead of the game is always a good thing. And just, as Ann said, it creates a relaxing space where everyone feels that they know what's going on. So there's no real hiccups or problems caused by fear of not knowing.

Rena Clark 37:20
Is it wrong that I wanted my twins to be in the same classes so that the one that's more organized could actually support me as the parent to be more organized? I'm just saying it would be a lot easier if I knew exactly—because they're very organized. I could just be, "Show me your—what you—okay." Then I could just tell the other one and be, "This is what you're supposed to be doing."

Paul Beckermann 37:45
That's fair. All right. Well, Ann was talking about earlier how her school used to be an AVID school and then wasn't able to continue that. AVID Open Access actually was created during the pandemic as a bridge for schools who are not AVID schools, and it's for AVID schools as well, but it's for there and beyond. It's open access content. Anybody can access those things, and we have things on there AI resources, templates, graphic organizers, those study skills that Rena was talking about. There's a collection of "Empower Students with Digital Study Skills." So go ahead and check that out, whether you're an AVID school or not.

And Ann, you get to add to our toolkit as well. What would you to drop in?

Ann Bucher 38:27
I'll drop in a book that was part of our professional development—a couple of excerpts at the beginning of the year. Some of the other teachers at Hazen have read this book, but I recently picked up a copy. It's called 10 to 25: The Science of Motivating Young People by David Yeager. And it's all about—I mean, building on some of the skills and strategies that I already have and use around relationships, how to really be an effective mentor and provide meaningful feedback and empower students to really take ownership of their education and their lives, rather than an older pedagogy of thinking of students as receptacles for learning to happen upon. And I'm hoping to be able to spend some time really diving into it and getting some ideas as I embark on my high school career.

Rena Clark 39:31
Awesome. All right, well, it's time for us to move into our one thing segment. It's time for that one thing.

Transition Music 39:41
It's time for that one thing. That one thing.

Rena Clark 39:51
So what is that one thing we're still pondering, thinking about, or maybe taking away? Who would start us off?

Paul Beckermann 40:00
I can start. I was just reflecting on this idea that high school is really a new experience for these kids. So it's a new experience for Ann as a teacher jumping up there, but for the students, every year, we've got this whole new batch of kids who are going into the high school, and it is vastly different than the experience that they're used to. And I think it's good for us to acknowledge that, to respect that. And as Ann mentioned, model our own growth as we have to go through things that are new for us so that they can see that they're not alone in that experience. That's what resonated with me.

Winston Benjamin 40:37
For me, the independence is terrifying as we start giving kids more and more independence from middle school to high school, and then beyond—opening those doors and removing those safety nets is scary. So just being aware of providing students with skills that can help them navigate that fear is also valuable.

Rena Clark 41:04
Yeah, I was actually thinking of another analogy. I was listening to a parenting book. So I have teenagers that I'm trying to understand. But it was very interesting about this swimming pool analogy, where at this time of high school, they're trying—they're going away from the edge, the shallow. They're going into the deep end. But guess what? They can't stay there. They can't tread. They're going to come back, and they're going to need that support from different people in their lives so that they can build those skills and go back out into the deep end.

And so you're going to get different moods, and you're going to get different—one day, they might need a lot of support. Other times, they're going to be able to do a lot of things on their own, and just how important—so one thing, and I really appreciate it, you were talking about this—that front-loading and providing that information and having it there for when they really need it, and how to navigate it so that they have that there when they need it. And I appreciate that.

Ann Bucher 41:59
I would tell students that if you don't know if somebody else has a question, you don't bother asking it yourself. Sharing that information up front. And I'd say my one thing is, I'm going to do the classic teacher beg, borrow, and steal an idea from you, Rena, because I do so much modeling and front-loading, but I never thought about doing, straight up, not just, "Here's a practice assignment to do an email," but literally in the moment, be, "Hey, I have my screen share on. This is an email that would be appropriate for students to be privy to. Let me directly model not just a hypothetical, but a real in the moment, as a professional. I have to do this all the time. Build the skill."

Rena Clark 42:51
Do not put the entire thing in the subject line. Goodness. Children. Stop doing that. I try to model that. Do not put your question as the subject.

Ann Bucher 43:04
Although I recently discovered a funny one. I have apparently a former student of mine who is now in their senior year at Hazen, who when they were a seventh grader at Nelson during the COVID shutdown, all that good stuff, they were taught how to set up an email signature, an automatic signature. So as a senior in high school, they have still not changed their email signature, and it still has their seventh grade Nelson schedule, complete with my name on it for fifth period science.

Winston Benjamin 43:45
Oh, that's awesome. And with that is a perfect way to end this. They're transitioning through life, and they still need guardrails, because they're still learning what it means to be an adult. Thank you so much, Ann, for helping us think through how to support our babies as they grow and mature through the transitions of life. And good luck with your transition. You're going to be awesome.

Ann Bucher 44:14
Thanks. Thanks for having me. It was wonderful.

Rena Clark 44:18
Thanks for listening to Unpacking Education.

Winston Benjamin 44:22
We invite you to visit us at AVIDOpenAccess.org, where you can discover resources to support student agency and academic tenacity to create a classroom for future-ready learners.

Paul Beckermann 44:35
We'll be back here next Wednesday for a fresh episode of Unpacking Education.

Rena Clark 44:39
And remember, go forth and be awesome.

Winston Benjamin 44:43
Thank you for all you do.

Paul Beckermann 44:45
You make a difference.