EP1: How Do We Start the School Year Off Right?

For the inaugural episode of the Teaching Tomorrow Podcast with Jay, Katie, & Steven the 2021 Michigan Teacher of the Year and Oak Park High School ELA teacher Owen Bondono joins our hosts to explore how teachers can build strong relationships, create inclusive classrooms, and spark positive momentum at the start of the year. Discover strategies that help students feel connected, confident, and ready to learn.

Hosts: Jay Haffner - Literacy Consultant, Katie Morrison - Mathematics Education Consultant, Dr. Steven Snead - Supervisor of Curriculum & Assessment.

This podcast is proudly brought to you by Oakland Schools Intermediate School District in the great state of Michigan. Oakland Schools is an educational service agency that offers support services to school districts that are best delivered regionally and provide cost, size and quality advantages to those we serve. Oakland Schools is an autonomous, tax-supported public school district governed by Michigan General School Laws and is one of 56 intermediate school districts (ISDs) established in Michigan in 1962.

If you are an educator in Oakland County, Michigan, check out www.oakland.k12.mi.us to explore the services and professional learning opportunities available to support you. 

Have feedback for the hosts? We'd love to hear from you! Email steven.snead@oakland.k12.mi.us to connect with us. 

Transcript

UNKNOWN 0:01

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 0:17

Hey, hey, everybody out there in the interwebs. Good morning, good evening, and good night or good afternoon, wherever you happen to be. This is the first, the first episode of the Teaching Tomorrow podcast. I am one of your hosts, Steve, Stephen, Dr. Sneed, whatever you want to call me. We have Katie. Hey,

SPEAKER_00 0:40

hey. Say hey. I'm so excited to be filming. This is so great. What an amazing opportunity. Recording? Are

SPEAKER_03 0:47

we showing our age? We're like, we're filming. We're taping.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_03 0:51

We're taping the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Taping it now.

SPEAKER_03 0:53

There's like a reel in the back. One, yes. Somebody's like rolling it. And we got my main man, Jay. Jay with us. How you guys doing? Happy to be here today. Recording. Jay, are you an AI? Am I an AI? Are you an AI? Or are you a real person? No, I'm a real person.

SPEAKER_02 1:10

Is Katie real? No, Katie is not real. She's all AI. Well, Katie's unreal. Unreal, yeah. She

SPEAKER_03 1:17

is unreal. Unreal. Amazing. But ladies and gentlemen, this is an all real podcast. There's no artificial intelligence here at this table. There is real, genuine made intelligence at the table. So first episode, we're going to get right to it. How do we start the school year off right? That's what we're going to talk about today. How are we going to start the school year off right? We have an amazing guest we're going to bring in here in a minute. But a little bit about ourselves. I'm Dr. Steven Sneed. I'm the supervisor of curriculum assessment at Oak at Oakland Schools, a proud former teacher, data assessment guru. At least that's what people tell me. That's not what I call myself. And I'm on the board of directors of the Michigan Assessment Consortium. And I think we need to start the school year off with belonging. Belonging. Like if there's a belonging button, just smash that button. Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. But Katie, what do you say? How do we start the school year off right? For teachers listening right now, what can we do to start this year off right?

SPEAKER_00 2:17

Yeah. I mean I think belonging is a huge piece I also think like really setting the stage for like this is a place you want to be because we're doing work that's meaningful and impactful to your lives to your community like set that stage as like this this is a space that is designed for you

SPEAKER_03 2:37

yeah but how do we do that Jay how do we do that like like how like okay I'm in the classroom all right if I want to hit the belonging meaningful button what does that button look like what do I hit? I don't know. What do you say? And who are you, Jay? Like, what do you do?

SPEAKER_02 2:50

Yeah, so I'm Jay Hafner. Hey, Jay. I'm a secondary literacy consultant at Oakland Schools going into my 21st year in education, which I was thinking about the other day. It's hard to believe. He's a gentleman of

SPEAKER_03 3:04

particular

SPEAKER_02 3:05

skills. Yes, and the gray hair, happy you can't see it, but it's starting to appear. So, yeah, I think that button starts or is labeled probably community, building a sense of community and understanding going back to these kids. We're not AI. The kids are not AI. We are all human. They're all real. That's right. It's a human endeavor. And how do we build that strong sense of community and belonging inside of the classroom? We'll get the year sort of going in the right direction. But I think the more specifics are probably going to be coming from our fantastic guests.

SPEAKER_03 3:43

What? What guests do we have here today? Oh, we got some by the way we are live in studio thank you for every media for our partnership in recording in their lovely studio in downtown Royal Oak check them out if you can but yeah we have not just a guest but the guest an award winning teacher and like we like to say like well award no legit like actual actual like real award

SPEAKER_00 4:11

he has done the things

SPEAKER_03 4:13

done the things city teacher of the year? No, no, no. Township teacher of the year? Oh, no. Bigger. Bigger? Go bigger? Go

SPEAKER_00 4:23

all the way. All the

SPEAKER_03 4:24

way. All the way? Michigan teacher of the year? That's pretty good. Like the whole state? That's

SPEAKER_04 4:30

it.

SPEAKER_03 4:30

Wow, wow. Thumb all. So he probably knows a thing or two. Yeah? Ladies and gentlemen, we want to bring to you Owen. Owen, what is going on? My main man of 100 grand.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

Well, apparently I've fooled you all about how much I know and what I can do. But yes, I am Owen Bondano I am the 2021 Michigan Teacher of the Year. And hi, it's nice to be here. Yeah,

SPEAKER_03 4:52

it's great to have you. It is awesome to have you. All right, so we're getting, Liz, we're getting into the nitty gritty of this topic. And we're all teachers, either current or former. I'm an old high school teacher, but also a summer camp director of elementary school age kiddos.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

I was a summer school director. Really? And a summer camp counselor and summer director when I was in college.

SPEAKER_03 5:16

Okay. What was your summer camp? Do you remember the summer camp name?

SPEAKER_00 5:20

I mean, I'm sorry, like city summer camp.

SPEAKER_03 5:21

City summer

SPEAKER_00 5:22

camp. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 5:23

Yeah. For anybody listening, shout out to Camp Burt Shirley in Detroit Public Schools. That's where I spent many, many summers working in a lovely lake. But enough about us and our background. What's some of your teaching background? Like what are your teaching jazz hands?

SPEAKER_01 5:36

I mean, so I also started in summer camp. Shout out to the YMCA.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

Hey, okay. That's what's up. All right, Jay, come on. Where's your- Yeah,

SPEAKER_01 5:44

where's your summer camp experience?

SPEAKER_02 5:45

Come on. Watching Friday night. Friday the 13th as a kid is pretty

SPEAKER_01 5:49

much where my experience was. But I went to Wayne State for my degree. And while I was there, I was a special ed paraprofessional for a few years. I was a substitute teacher in quite a number of places for a few years. And then I have taught, I'm a secondary English teacher and I've taught everything from sixth grade to 12th. I'm currently teaching 11th grade ELA and creative writing at Oak Park High

SPEAKER_03 6:16

Shout out to Oak Park High School. Oak Park. I think there's a theme at the table here with Oak Park. We're all former and our current employees. It's a good place to be. Yeah. Yeah. So that's your background. So, Owen, you had PD today. I sure did. Right? And the kids come back next week. You excited? You ready?

SPEAKER_01 6:36

I'm excited. I would not say I'm ready. Not ready. Okay. But I always feel like I'm not ready until it's been a few days in. Okay. Yeah. I was

SPEAKER_02 6:41

going

SPEAKER_03 6:42

to

SPEAKER_02 6:42

say,

SPEAKER_03 6:42

are you ever? No. Are you ever truly ready? No. Yeah. This is real for you because we talk about like how do we start the school year off right? You're literally starting it in a matter of days. So how are you going to do that, man? How do we start the school year off right? What do we need to do at the classroom level to make sure that this thing is going to thing? You

SPEAKER_01 7:03

know, I've been listening to these ideas and belonging and all this stuff. Great. Sure. So what does the button look like? Right. I think for me, the button looks like, you know, we talk about like icebreakers and community builders and those are extremely important. But and, you know, it's great that so many schools now are building in time for that. Schools are saying, you know, first week, first two weeks, nothing but, you know, no content yet. Just get to know each other and do those things. But then I hear these teachers who are going, oh, that is too much time. What are we going to do? Play these dumb little games for two weeks or whatever. Right. And I think the secret is, is that you can do those things while practicing the processes of your content. So like for ELA, you know, sure, we're going to do games. We're going to do name ball where you throw a ball around and you have to say the person's name before you throw it and then thank the person by name when you catch it and create a pattern and try to go faster and all this stuff right we're going to do that sure and then after that after we do that for 10 minutes or whatever then they're going to get a letter from me about who I am and they're going to write a letter back to me about who they are you know and so we're getting to know each other we're building a sense of belonging but we're doing it in ways that practice content and I also I think my cheat sheet for everybody is you as a teacher what do you struggle with and how can you sort of like gamify that a little bit like I'm terrible at names like terrible at names and not just in the classroom all the time I'm just really bad at names so the other day a few years ago I bought these magnetic name tag holders they're like the plastic name tag holders you might have like a convention badge in or something but they've got a magnet on the back and then you just put that on your clothes that way so it doesn't make holes in your clothing and so on the first day everybody gets a little piece of construction paper cut to the right size they can decorate it however they want but their name has to be on there they put it in that little thing and for the first like almost month of school when they walk into class they go to their hours bin take out their name tag and put it on and put it back in the bin at the end of the hour so that we are seeing them and seeing their face and you know I let them do stuff like pick out a sticker and put on there and then maybe one of our icebreakers another day would be explaining why you chose that sticker what does it say about you like stuff like that you know because we're writing and all those things this whole time so I use cheat sheets like that to build the community where'd you get it from like Amazon or

SPEAKER_03 9:18

Amazon is not endorsing

SPEAKER_01 9:20

this this is non-paid right no sponsorship but that is where I bought it but I love doing stuff like that and I one of the things I started doing a few years ago was this project in the first couple weeks called the alphabet of admiration where they pick a letter out of a hat and then they have to do a quick presentation that is about a person that they find admirable who's first or last name starts with the letter they pulled. And it's super simple. Like all of my, my only instructions on it are like, you got to tell me some basic biographical facts. You got to tell me what you find interesting about them. You got to tell me what you find admirable about them. And you got to tell me where you got your information. And that's like all the guidelines I give. So it's very low, like cognitive load, but I'm watching the whole time. And I'm seeing who finds this really easy, who finds this really difficult, who's scared of presenting, who's going to, at this point of the year, just put in the bare minimum and kind of try to skate by, who's going to Who's my keener? Like all those things. Right. And I'm observing all that in this setting. And then at the end of it, we put up an alphabet around the room like it's an elementary school classroom, except instead of it being like B is for ball. It's like B is for Beyonce and Barack Obama and Angela Bassett, you know, and whoever else. And none of them would do Angela Bassett, but I would.

SPEAKER_04 10:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

Yeah. But yeah, I love doing stuff like that where we're using the skills that we're going to use all year and I'm getting to see how they do with those skills. But it's all low cognitive load. It's all super full of student choice. And it's interspersed with these community building exercises and games and stuff like that that we do, which I also like when I hear teachers who are complaining about doing those kinds of games. I think like, man, you would not like my classroom because I'm a big believer that, sure, it's great to establish community, but you have to maintain it. So

SPEAKER_02 11:08

maintaining the community that you're building.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

So once we've played a bunch of these games in the first couple of weeks, I'll put the names of all of them in a hat. And every Monday we start off by a kid pulling around the hat and we spend 10 minutes doing that because that's reinforcing the community that we have with each other. And it's like making sure that when things go wrong, you know, I love when I see that kid who, you know, student A and student B would never think they have anything in common with each other, but because they get to know each other and they feel connected to each other. When student B, who's normally outgoing and gregarious and all that, comes in and puts their head down, student A is like, hey, you all right? You know, and I'm kind of watching out of the corner of my eye going like, ha ha. I did that.

SPEAKER_03 11:48

Right. Well, so the big thing that I'm picking up on what you're saying is, and I totally 100% agree, I can see why he was 2021 Michigan Teacher of the Year. Shout out to Michigan Teacher of the Year. Sometimes, like, teachers are presented with this, I think, a false choice of, like, you're building community, you're doing fun stuff, belonging stuff, or you're doing content. Like, ne'er shall the two meet. And I think the sweet spots that you're getting at is we can still build community through the context of rigorous academic learning. And we want to scale that rigor over time. You know, the first day, we're not going to, you know, wallop kids over the head, but we do want to get them on that train. So I absolutely love, love, love that idea. One of the things that, you know, I had done back in my day in 1782 in my time in the classroom. You have some gray hair up there on that dome. I'm just pulling that out for those who can't see you now. I got some years behind me. But within the first week, because I love writing, I was also an English teacher. Shout out to all the English teachers out there. And

SPEAKER_00 12:59

shout out to the math

SPEAKER_03 13:00

teachers. We

SPEAKER_00 13:01

also got it going on.

SPEAKER_03 13:02

Katie is a math girlie. That's her jazz hands. I would create cooperative circles, I mean really with the type of desk, squares. And I would have students in interview each other to find out what are their strengths what are they really good at what are they proud of what are they love and a couple years I'd have students because I'm an extrovert so you're going to get extroversion out of my class sorry guys is have that student be a hype person for the other person in the classroom and everybody takes a turn getting hyped up and what joy does that bring in and it really was really fun in the classroom to see kids get really excited and somebody hyping them up about something that they're really proud of and

SPEAKER_01 13:46

Well, here's a good game you can play right before that one. So you're building to that. It's called name tag swap. So in this case, we have the reusable name tags in my room that we use, but you could use regular name tags or even just like index cards or whatever. But you have everybody put their name on an index card or name tag or whatever. And then in their brains, they think of two true facts about them. This is not two truths and a lie or anything like that. You're just thinking of two true facts by yourself. And then you have them partner up and they introduce themselves and they say their two true facts. And then you give them the twist, which is that now you're going to trade name tags and you're going to go find a new partner and introduce yourself as this new person with their two facts. So if Katie and I had just paired up, I'm now taking Katie's name tag and introducing myself to Jay as Katie and saying, my name is Katie and here are my two facts about me. And you do a bunch of rounds of that. So they're all mixed up and then you put them in a circle and you go around and they have to introduce themselves as whatever name tag they're holding with the two facts. And then it's also kind of like a game of telephone. So you say like, okay, I have Katie's name tag and Katie's two facts are this and this. Is that accurate? And then either Katie's like, yep, or we all laugh at the Silliness that's come out of it. And then you give Katie back her name tag. And so we're getting to know each other that way. And also like up and moving around and like talking to people we wouldn't normally talk to. But it's not so personal at that moment. And then you could go into something deeper like interviewing each other and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 15:03

Pretty

SPEAKER_03 15:03

nice. I feel like if I could insert like a bomb sound. Like, yeah, that's awesome. Katie, you were really resonating with what I was saying. Like how did that, what does it look like in a mask? mathematics classroom or does it look exactly the same what do you think

SPEAKER_00 15:19

yeah I mean I think potentially it could look the same I think like often we think like math content has to be like so separate from being able to just be creative and like writing about yourself and like thinking about who you are and so I don't think it needs to be so different I wonder though as I'm listening to what Owen's saying about this added layer of like how could you build sort of like these low stakes introduction to the math content that still build community you know I think about like many math challenges that you could do or you know you think about like the the marshmallows and the toothpicks and like building structures out of them and like really getting to this like stem space that builds community while also like infusing math and I think it's so important in a math classroom a science classroom I mean all classrooms but I really think about the classrooms that kids when they see that on the schedule a smile isn't the first thing they think it's like the first couple weeks of school are so important to say like you're going to enter into a new class and I promise you I'm going to be on this journey with you and we're going to really think about math differently in a really beautiful space and you don't have to love it but I promise I'm going to like walk this journey with you to help you see like your strengths in it

SPEAKER_01 16:37

yeah and so many of the activities we do as icebreakers community builders like those structures can be used academically one of my favorite ones is is back to back face to face so they find a partner they stand back to back with them you ask a question give them 30 seconds of think time and then when you say front to front they turn around and talk about it until you tell them to stop and then you say back to back and they go find a new partner they get a new question repeat right and so back to school time I'm asking questions like if you could have any superpower what would it be you know what would be your entrance song if you had an entrance song stuff like that but then halfway through the semester I'm asking them like what do you think is the most interesting theme from the novel we just read or you know whatever Or even like, I might put a question on the board, here's a sentence, and what's wrong with it grammatically? You know, whatever. I love ELA in part because there are no wrong answers as long as you can justify it. And I understand that math is a little different than that. There may in fact be definitive correct answers. But I still think that, you know, these kinds of structures can work no matter what your content is. And I'm lucky enough now that my teaching partner, shout out to Desiree Fuller, we get to train people all over the state on on restorative practices. And one of the things that I think we struggle the most with getting people to understand is that a circle is not just like a touchy-feely thing, and it's certainly not just a when something's gone wrong solution, but we teach in circle all the time. And not just like when it's structured like a Socratic seminar and stuff like that where a circle feels obvious, or a class discussion where it lends itself very naturally, but we do all kinds of learning that is in that shape and using the expectations, the talking piece and all those things, so that... It doesn't become a, oh, we're in circles, something's gone wrong or whatever, you know. And it's so wonderful because they're looking at each other and they're present with each other in that shape in ways that they aren't sometimes when they're at their separate desks and whatever else. But all of these structures that we teach should be both community and academic.

SPEAKER_02 18:34

Yeah. So just thinking through some of the things that Owen is saying, I think it's really interesting when we think about the moves we make inside of our classrooms early on in the year to to build community, but also how important it is to ensure that we're not doing these things, that our classrooms don't become a silo. And thinking through like, how do we as a larger school come together to own this idea of building community, owning every minute to teach, and so community becomes culture at that point. And if we start surrounding- This is J-I, not A-I. This is J-I. But if we start building that culture across all of our classrooms and these shared experiences for the students, what impact might that have? And thinking through how do we start the school year off right, teachers start the school before students, and ways in which we approach community and culture is important

SPEAKER_03 19:39

early in the year. I want to shift gears and throw, not a curve bar, but a thing that's very important I mean, we're recording this podcast in 2025, where parent involvement in school over the past couple years has been really, really important. And parents, rightfully so, drive their kiddos' education. But a study in 2025, a Cambridge-led study, found that it takes parents about a year, a year to accurately understand how their child feels about schools. Parents often overestimate classroom happiness and underestimate school enjoyment what do you think about that and what do you like how do you engage with parents towards the beginning of the school year to get the school year started off right

SPEAKER_01 20:25

oh yeah

SPEAKER_03 20:26

in the home with the parent

SPEAKER_01 20:27

I mean so I I'm already before class starts before I have my first kid I've got you know things like my remind set up and I'm messaging parents you know I added their information off of the system and I'm introducing myself and I'm sending out a little like welcome newsletter and stuff like that right but I also think it's important that you make positive contacts before negative right I have a teacher in my building who makes it a point to every single day make two phone calls home and just like rotates through everybody to make sure that everybody has that touch point and I think these are things that elementary it's sort of baked in a little more easily and secondary especially when you have hundreds of students and so on it can be a lot more difficult to do so a system like I'm going to call two every day. You know, yes, that does mean that it's going to be quite a while before you get to that last kid, but you're still going to get to all of them. And it's interesting. Could you read the part again about what they over and underestimate? I need to hear it

SPEAKER_03 21:27

again. Yeah. Yeah. They overestimated their classroom happiness and they underestimated the enjoyment that they had in the playground. That was the specific point of the study that

SPEAKER_01 21:39

they underestimated the playground. I wish I still got recess up here in 11th grade. I wish we still got recess. I mean, don't we all? Yeah. But I think that makes total sense to me, especially because we know that students, well, all human beings focus on extreme emotions, right? So when your kid comes home and is telling you how it was the worst day ever, they're overlooking all the good stuff that happened and vice versa. When they come home really excited to tell you about the cool, exciting thing that happened, they're not telling you about the stuff that was maybe not so great. And students, I think young people have that in an exaggerated kind of a way. And we all know, too, how much Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All those kinds of things. Because, well, I only have 50 minutes with the kids and I only have them in this very limited context, ELA, reading and writing, speaking and listening. This is the context in which I have them and which I have a sphere of influence. But I feel like I get to see such a complete picture of them and that picture is not complete without their home. Right.

SPEAKER_03 23:40

Yeah. Well, Katie, you were talking about earlier the bridge that I'm connected between Owen and Katie is we're on this journey together right and I think for a lot of kids you know I have a soft spot for kids who've had historically a tough time in school and parents who've had just a tough time parenting right and so sometimes it can feel like school's the big scary place that people are lording over you and there's judgment and there's fear and I love that positionality of hey I'm on this journey with you and I love the language that You just use, like, how can I help you? Like, how can I help you, you know, in your home manage things with the kiddo? I had a cell phone for a very, very long time, although I did grow up in an era where we did not have cell phones. Yes, I'm that old. Gray hair. The gray hair. The gray hair is plural. But I would have, kind of speaking of making positive phone calls at home, I would have parent phone numbers like saved in my phone like I don't have to go to my star power school look it up like oh yeah my favorite I always call it my favorite students I got your number on speed dial in the phone and I'm not coming at it well here's what they did today it's like hey man hey they did a rocked out job today could be something big or could be something small but that quick win for the kids super super important to kind of position ourselves like I'm not like the quote unquote government authorities That's, you know, the only way you get an A is through me, right? Like, no, like we're on this journey together. How can I help you, the parent? And how can I help you, the kid? Oh, and before we let you go, any last words of wisdom for teachers, school leaders, coaches out there in getting this school year started off right?

SPEAKER_01 25:38

I think it's important for us to remember that every, you know, it's trite to say that every kid can achieve and that, you know, every kid, no matter the challenge, can be reached and all those things. But I also have a soft spot for those who have struggled a little bit, those who have historically not had such great success in academic settings. And I think that the key, so my big sister is also a teacher. Shout out to Professor Brandilyn Tossalt at the University of New Mexico. Shout out, big sis. But she told me once when I was new to this that the key for her was was finding something that she truly loved about every student. And I think that that remains true for me. There is something to love about every student. And sometimes it's something like, I love how much your mama loves you. At least at first it is. But if you can find something to truly love and to truly uplift about every kid, find that little success in them early on, those stack. And even if one kid's success is they turned in a great essay and the other kid's great success is that they didn't shout a profanity today, like, cool. Call that out. Praise it. I'm really happy with the contribution you made to our culture today. That was really awesome and I'm really proud of you. And those things stack. And before you know it, those little ones become big ones and then you got them. You've hooked them and you reel them in. I don't know how to fish. Is that accurate?

SPEAKER_00 27:01

It sounds accurate. I mean, that's half the battle, right?

SPEAKER_03 27:05

I'm allergic to fish, so

SPEAKER_00 27:07

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

I'm allergic to fish. Well, I'm allergic to pineapples, so weird food allergies.

SPEAKER_03 27:14

Oh, you're missing out so much but some people tell me like fish you're missing out on so much I'm like yeah but the analogy holds I think right like hooking and reeling them in to create that belonging in an authentic way that builds upon cognition within academic content so no we're not saying just do silly games for two weeks and then you'll do the real stuff no we do the real stuff from day one that's day one Owen thank you so much for dropping those bombs Those nuggets of wisdom. I love it. Stick around for us because now we're going to do hot takes.

SPEAKER_04 27:49

Yes,

SPEAKER_03 27:49

yes. Where each of us is going to have one crazy zany thing. It might be evidence-based. It might not be, but it's your truth about how you start school year off right. So I'll start first. Give everybody an A.

SPEAKER_04 28:04

Oh, there you

SPEAKER_03 28:04

go. Give them an A. Give them an A. Because some of the kids have never, ever logged in PowerSchool or Mysore or whatever you use and has ever seen an A. Get something in which all kids be successful at the beginning of the school year and make parents log in so that they can see, want to build their confidence up over time. So I'm not saying, I'm not saying give them an A, but ensure that their student success so that you can start the year off right. Katie, what about you?

SPEAKER_00 28:30

Yes. And then tell them to log into PowerSchool so they see that and that feeling that they get of like, I can do this. That's attainable. Yes. Live off of that high. So I was thinking this is going to be crazy. And then I feel like what Oban dropped for us, I'm like, okay, mine's kind of can So I don't know like how outlandish it is. But I'm thinking like start the school year off with like a mission that the kids have to solve. Right. Like I'm talking real world mission, like elementary kids, like we got to save our pollinators. How do we do it? High school kids, you got to earn a thousand dollars in a week for school. How are you going to do it? Right. Like a mission, build community through that, because once the kids believe that their learning matters, they're going to do what you ask them to do and they're going to go with you anyway. Hey,

SPEAKER_02 29:16

Jay, what about you, brother? and let them know that they own this thing that we call the school year. You can keep them. You can hook them and reel them in, not only for the year until June, but you actually hook them for the rest of their school experience and hopefully beyond because that's the ultimate goal here is to give them, prepare them, have them ready to succeed in this life beyond the school. Lifelong learners. Lifelong learners.

SPEAKER_01 30:12

All right, I got one. Yeah. Students are never too old to do classroom jobs. They never age out of classroom jobs. Look around your classroom. You talked about AI earlier. People use AI to automate things that they do all the time. What are the procedures and stuff that happen every time, every day, every class hour in your class? And how can you hand that responsibility off to a kid? And kids of all ages will thrive on that, especially the ones that are a little more challenging. If you can be like, hey, you're my off-the-wall kid. You are going to pass out the laptops every day. You got them now. They have responsibility and they're with you. And that's

SPEAKER_03 30:46

voice, right? Ownership. You have some ownership in it. Good jobs. Responsibility. Yes, I'm all for that.

SPEAKER_00 30:52

Yeah, so I just want to leave everyone with what is your bold move that you are starting off this school year with? Let's put aside what we've done traditionally, what we always do, and really think about what's that one thing that I'm really going to push? Is it giving every kid an A? Is it giving classroom jobs? Is it setting up a mission? What are you going to do that's and inspire kids and show them that they belong in your classroom

SPEAKER_03 31:18

belonging journey

SPEAKER_00 31:19

together the belonging button

SPEAKER_03 31:20

the belonging bucket like smash that speaking of smash Jay you have a message for us for next week

SPEAKER_00 31:26

yes why should everyone join us yeah

SPEAKER_02 31:29

I do well first before we get into next week let's just recognize that we are wrapping up our inaugural first episode so yeah we did it it's is the phrase it's in the can still used.

SPEAKER_00 31:45

So I've never heard of that. It's

SPEAKER_03 31:49

an older

SPEAKER_02 31:49

phrase. Katie's the one at the table without the gray hair. I still got them. Huge thank you to Owen Bondano for joining us today and all of you for spending time with us as we kick off the school year together. Hopefully you found something here to inspire your own practice, spark new ideas in the classroom, and the the school community. Next time, where are we heading with episode number two? We're going to be diving into a conversation. How do we get kids excited about school? A million-dollar question, and the million-dollar answer is going to be coming from educator extraordinaire Dr. Gianni Clarkson, who's going to be joining us as our guest. Oh, yeah. I can't wait for that one. It's going to be exciting. It'll be thoughtful. Practical. Yeah. But it's going to be energizing. He's going to bring the energy. Everyday inspiration for everyday teachers. He brings the energy. In the meantime, don't forget to follow or subscribe to a Teaching Tomorrow podcast wherever you get your podcasts and leave us a rating or comment. Smash the like. It helps other educators find these conversations that we're having here today. And if you liked what you heard, share this episode with a colleague who could use a little inspiration for the year ahead. Yeah. Caring is caring. It is. And until next time, keep teaching, keep learning, and keep building the tomorrow your students can believe in. Because here at Teaching Tomorrow, we believe in you. Yes,

SPEAKER_03 33:25

we believe in you. That was good. See you next time. See ya. See ya.