Ep #17: School's out for Summer

We wrap season one with honest end-of-year reflections, from what we wish we knew in August to the surprises that changed our classrooms and our tech plans. We share what we are building over the summer and end with a short, joyful conversation with two preschoolers about what makes school feel special. 

• noticing how the building changes when a grade level leaves 
• taking a breath and letting go of what we cannot control 
• practicing saying no and pacing big projects across the year 
• the unexpected shift to MacBook Neos for incoming freshmen 
• how classroom furniture and space can affect engagement 
• summer plans including an Apple Learning Coach certificate and tech help videos 
• redesigning transition meetings using SEL data and early benchmark data 
• inviting listener suggestions for topics, programs, and guests 

Reach out on social media. We’d love to hear what people want to hear!

Transcript

Last Days Of School Energy

Ben Webb 0:09

Welcome to the pod. This week we are finishing off the year. And so we're gonna give our end of your thoughts and then we're gonna continue on and say, have a happy summer. My name is Ben Webb. This is Andy Govey. Stick around. This is Live in the Lab Schools. Hello, sir. How are you? Surviving.

Andy Goveia 0:32

Yes.

Ben Webb 0:33

Last few days.

Andy Goveia 0:34

Last few days. We're recording this. This is the last full school day of the year. This is the Thursday of the end.

Ben Webb 0:42

First day of finals.

Andy Goveia 0:43

First day of finals you high. And this was our first day without eighth grade. Oh wow. Down here. They were presented and they are now high schoolers and they're gone.

Ben Webb 0:52

That's gotta be weird when you like for our seniors after they after the graduation, like the building's just like it it seems like more than a quarter empty. Yeah. But it just feels like okay. Smaller building.

Andy Goveia 1:04

My room's in our eighth grade hallway, and like their lockers are right outside. And this morning when the bell rang, there was crickets. And it's really the crickets are weird. It's it's like I will I walked down around, I had to walk away, I couldn't do it. It's just too quiet. Um, I've just become so accustomed to the noise. And so it was real a little weird. We took our seventh graders out to lunch today. Okay, walked them down to the potbelly noodles interchange on Main Street, and they got to have a little bit of freedom to go where they wanted to eat. And cup we sat outside as teachers and they knew where we were, and they could grab us if they needed us, and they did a great job. Got compliments from some of the restaurants, even on how polite they were. So yeah.

Ben Webb 1:45

And it's weird for me because we're recording in your room. Yes. So, like I'm in your classroom. I see all your new furniture, uh I see the boxes getting ready for summer.

Andy Goveia 1:55

Yeah. Uh, I just found out today I'm gonna get some carpeting to finish out my room. So it won't be half tile, half or two-thirds carpet, one-third tile. It's gonna be all carpet next year, uh, which changes my summer packing calculus immensely. Yeah. But it's fine. Yep. It'll be good. It's gonna be fine.

Ben Webb 2:12

So

What We Wish We Knew

Ben Webb 2:13

this is end of the year. End of the year. Season one. Season one. Are there things that you wish you knew at the start of the year that you wish you had now?

Andy Goveia 2:23

Um just to throw that hot take out there. That's well, in relation to what? Anything? Anything. Open for them. I wish I would have known if if someone had told me in August, take a breath, let things go that are out of your control. That would have saved me, I think, an enormous amount of frustration throughout the year. Um, because I had that realization around spring break that, like, this is out of my control, it's not worth it anymore. Um, and so that and for nothing that's bad, again, we we have all these episodes where we talk about the great things we do here. And like my frustrations and the things that I wish I would have taken a breath on and let go are not actual problems. They're just things that get bother me. And so if I had been able to tell myself in August, hey, take a breath, let it go if it's not under your control, that might have saved me some frustration.

Ben Webb 3:21

Mm-hmm. Fair. What about you? I I practiced something this year. I started saying no to a few things. Yeah. I I didn't do as good as I wanted to, but I feel like I I should have stretched certain certain parts out over the course of the entire year. I feel like I still backloaded enough of this gear where it was like, I'm surviving. Yeah. But I I made all of the papers do at the exact same time. I put all of this, you know, Stroud work that I wanted to finish in the auditorium until right now. And of course, I feel like I should have done better. I should know better.

Andy Goveia 4:01

Yeah. Um hot take back at you. What

Happy Surprises In Tech And Space

Andy Goveia 4:06

was a happy surprise you ran into this year? Something that came out of left field that you were like, this is awesome.

Ben Webb 4:12

So, and I can I can do this. Um, so we we are a one-to-one school. I've talked about our laptops at UHI for a number of years. I've been on the tech committee, I've been a part of our shared governance model. The happy accident um that we've talked about a bunch uh at UHI right now is we have I'll let you do that first.

Andy Goveia 4:36

Is it making sense? I'm so sorry. That's okay. This is why the the boom so it's I think we're gonna leave this in. We're not editing this out. Um, we're on my setup. I don't have the arms like Ben does, and I cannot sit still. So I'm gonna we're gonna go back to Ben and I just created noise you're gonna hear. And that is what it's like to record with me.

Ben Webb 4:57

So to answer your question, um the happy surprise tech committee was technology-wise, we ordered laptops. I want to say we tried twice this year to order a specific model of laptop very similar to what we had before. Tried twice and they could not fulfill our order, whether it's they just don't want to make that product anymore or the RAM shortage, whatever the reason. Next year, our freshman class will be on MacBook Neos. I am so excited and terrified because that has been years and years of years in planning that just all of a sudden in March became a possibility and now is becoming a reality.

Andy Goveia 5:40

Shout out to Apple and the MacBook Neo.

Ben Webb 5:43

I I I I vividly remember sending something to our tech committee, to our tech team the day before saying, Hey, Apple's leaked this on their main website, it's happening tomorrow. Fast forward three weeks later, finding out we don't have computers for next year. Yeah. And then the happy accident of can we do this? The rush of like two weeks of figuring out can we do this? And then putting the order in on a Thursday, they were in our offices on the following Monday.

Andy Goveia 6:15

That's amazing.

Ben Webb 6:16

Yeah. So crazy, exciting, happy accident. I never even knew would be possible.

Andy Goveia 6:22

That's amazing. Uh, my happy accident that it was this, my furniture. We talked about it a little bit. That like it was a it was a random, hey, do this if you want. And I stumbled across the chance to do it, and thanks to 23,000 votes, got a brand what it feels like, a brand new room some days. Looks great. Thank you. I don't know that I've actually been in here since this happened. You should have been here the day it got set up. It looked really good, and now it looks like it's been lived in for four months. Um, it's been good. No, the kids have responded well to it. Engagement's up, which I have no actual metrics in to say that like it feels like kids are tuned in more now. Um, so hey, furniture matters. Uh

Summer Projects We Actually Want

Andy Goveia 7:07

going into summer, everybody knows teachers to some degree do something. What is some summer work you're gonna be doing? Exciting or otherwise?

Ben Webb 7:18

Uh school related or not school related?

Andy Goveia 7:21

Whatever you want to share. Not school related.

Ben Webb 7:23

This just goes out to dozens of perennials I want to plant in our little side garden that we have along the alley of our uh next to our house. Uh work related, I'm gonna be starting a certificate program for the Apple uh learning coach. Hey, congratulations program. Yeah, so I got accepted to that, so I'm gonna do that over the summer. Um and then a little bit of like I'm gonna be using a little bit of what I learned with podcasting this year to create some videos for our freshmen as they're coming in. Like so basically making a technology corner, a technology help page. Oh, that's awesome. So I'm gonna try and do some videos and we'll try to amplify them to make them seem kind of like product videos. Yeah. Um, but then kind of release those gradually over the summer and hopefully have that content ready for our freshmen next year.

Andy Goveia 8:12

That's awesome.

Ben Webb 8:12

What about you?

Rethinking Transition Meetings With Data

Andy Goveia 8:14

Um I'm doing a committee here at school. Um, we are we do for a lack of better phrasing, we do uh we call them transition meetings. So between grade levels, right? Um we get together and we talk about uh kids and what to look for. And we usually historically have done those at the end of the school year where you're going to a meeting for 45 minutes and you're not quite you hear about these kids and then you get to the fall and you generally generally we forget a chunk of what we're told. And so we were in a leadership team meeting back in April, and we just got on the subject of of scheduling things and running out of time, and we all kind of just went, Is it was there a better way to do this? And we talked about well, what if we did it in like the first month of school? And so that generated about 20 minutes of just everyone building off each other to we got to the point of, well, let's invest some time in this and let's do this right. So I'm I'm on that, we're calling it, I guess, task force, not committee. Um, we're gonna get together and meet her here early in the summer to draft out what that looks like. We're looking at targeting half day or so of transition meeting, but getting to look at end of year SEL data from this year. We hope to have uh fall benchmark screener data, um, and also two or three weeks of classroom instruction data to bring to the table and go, okay, what do we see about these kids? Set some uh win groups, uh, what individuals need. We have that time built into our schedule, K8. So setting some small group supports if needed, or if we have larger groups needing some similar supports, targeted tier one support. Um, and so we're just gonna kind of get to reimagine what that looks like. And then hopefully we're gonna get to also take that work and make those our regular day-to-days throughout the year, use a similar structure and format. So we're trying to change how we do something to what be what we hope is better off for kids and us.

Ben Webb 10:09

Very cool. Yeah. And I've always been we also do like a tran smaller scale of that transition meeting between eighth grade and ninth grade at UHI. So I I I've always benefited from that Zoom that we've had.

Andy Goveia 10:20

Yeah. Uh, we got to do that a week or so ago with uh Kayla. Kayla Scherer, shout out to her. Um, if this goes well for us, I might send up some notes to you guys about maybe us moving to that model instead, even eighth to freshman, of like, hey, here's a couple things to know really quick, and then let's talk after you've had them for three weeks and see what you really want to know and see. Again, we only have 50 of your freshman class, but if we can give you a window into a third of them better, it it gives me a better idea.

Ben Webb 10:45

Yeah. Because I I some freshmen, they just they just want a fresh start. Yeah. And so I can use some of the data that you have, but I can also look at it and go, okay, this is their history. Yeah, they start, I I start off knowing a little bit about them, so it's been helpful. Yeah. And if there's any listeners in our other feeder districts that have kids coming to us, I think we'd also be happy to hear that

Tell Us What You Want Next

Ben Webb 11:06

as well.

Andy Goveia 11:06

Yes. Give us give us data. Um as we think, I mean, this doesn't need to be a long episode by any means. Oh no. You've had some great teachers' lounges to listen to. Um next year, we said this a couple episodes ago, and I want to put it out there for any of you that listen. If there's a topic or people or programs or something you want to hear a conversation about, and I think also we both would agree we want to move more conversational and dialogue and start with some big thing and just let it be a conversation between people discussing that thing. Um, we've been doing a lot of interviews, which have been great. Um, but if there's a topic, a conversation you want to hear about the lab schools, what they're doing, if there's a specific program or offering you want to hear more about, people you would want to hear from, uh, connections across the university. Um, we want to feature what people want to hear uh and do it, we hope, well. So please reach out uh on social media. It's probably the easiest way, or our emails are there somewhere in our link tree as well. Um, we'd love to hear what people want to hear.

Ben Webb 12:13

Absolutely. And I think especially over the summer, I think there's gonna be a lot of people who they finally get some downtime. I'm gonna guess that a bunch of people are gonna find us and find this channel and find this uh station over over the summer. And so now that you kind of have a taste of what our schools are like, we'll continue to revisit traditions, we'll continue to revisit the work that's being done with pre-service and and all of the different entities of our mission. But I think again, we've both have talked about we want to get more topical and more granular. I think specifically about there's those uh college students they got assigned.

SPEAKER_02 12:51

Yeah, Dr.

Ben Webb 12:52

Meyer had uh had them listen to our podcast and like they had to listen in for specific things. So there are if there are specific topics that benefit the listeners, we'll go there.

Andy Goveia 13:03

Yeah, let's do it. So yeah, yeah, we want to hear from you. Um

Season Two Plans And Leaders

Andy Goveia 13:07

this summer, we're gonna record one episode this summer. So we'll hit you up season two. You'll get that in early August, we hope. Uh, we'll have a conversation with Dean of the College, Dr. Uzigelder, our principals, Carmen Bergman and Andrea Markert. Um, we are in the process of discerning what senior leadership looks like for the lab schools. And so as we hit next school year, we're gonna get a conversation with them so you can hear it before the school year starts about what the year is gonna look like from leadership, what you're gonna see, things they're excited about, ways to partner with different members of our community, parents, etc. Um, and so season two will kick off with that interview, and we're gonna get that done so that around the start of school, that'll hit to kick off season two.

Ben Webb 13:52

But otherwise, it's summer vacation for us.

Andy Goveia 13:55

It is. We're gonna take time. Hey, at the end of this episode, you're in for a real treat. Um, before we sign off, stay tuned. Uh, you're gonna hear a short conversation I had with some of our littlest learners. Um, I had the chance to talk to two of our preschoolers and I asked them about their experience with preschool this year. And Owen and Grant did a phenomenal job of telling you all what you should know about preschool. So as we were exhausted, we're tired, everyone's in that season of uh, let's get to summer, um, there are two five-year-olds that would love to tell you at the end of this episode how their year went and what they love about learning.

Ben Webb 14:39

It's pretty awesome.

Andy Goveia 14:41

It's it filled my bucket yesterday. Oh, we need that at the end of the year. Yes, it was awesome. So, to our listening community, this has been season one of Live in the Lab Schools.

Ben Webb 14:55

Have a great summer, everyone. We'll be back soon.

Andy Goveia 15:01

All

Preschoolers Tell The Truth

Andy Goveia 15:02

right, I am here with some of our littlest students here at the lab schools. Could you both tell me your names?

SPEAKER_01 15:09

Owen Grant.

Andy Goveia 15:11

Awesome. Owen and Grant are in our preschool at Metcalf, and we thought it'd be really cool here at the end of the year to hear from some of our youngest learners what they thought was pretty cool about their school year. So, Owen and Grant, are you ready? All right. My first question for you both is, and Owen, you can go first, okay? What do you wish every adult knew about preschool?

SPEAKER_01 15:38

Uh, yeah, um, the classroom is beautiful.

Andy Goveia 15:42

The classroom is beautiful. What do you like about your classroom?

SPEAKER_01 15:45

Um, that the centers are fun.

Andy Goveia 15:47

The centers are fun? I love that. Grant, could you tell me what you think every adult should know about preschool? What do you mean it could be?

SPEAKER_01 16:02

It could be toys.

Andy Goveia 16:09

Yeah. I love that. I'm gonna ask a question, Mrs. Margo didn't ask you. Is that okay? What is your favorite thing about your classroom? Come on. If I asked you, if I was like, Graham, go to your favorite place in the classroom, where are you going? The art station? Okay, and then Owen, what about you? Where are you gonna go if I said go to your favorite spot?

SPEAKER_01 16:37

Uh art?

Andy Goveia 16:38

Art? You both like art? Why? Why do you like art?

SPEAKER_01 16:42

I paintings.

Andy Goveia 16:47

Same for you, Owen.

SPEAKER_01 16:49

Uh yeah, and also there's like a lot of stickers, and we could make like ice cream and um titties. Yeah.

Andy Goveia 17:00

So you need to be creative.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

That's awesome.

Andy Goveia 17:11

That's awesome. Alright, are you ready for my next question?

SPEAKER_01 17:13

Yeah.

Andy Goveia 17:14

Could you tell me, and Grant, you can go first as what do you want to be when you grow up?

SPEAKER_01 17:20

Basketball baseball.

Andy Goveia 17:25

A basketball and a baseball player? That's amazing. Owen, what about you? What do you want to be when you grow up?

SPEAKER_01 17:31

A violin player because it's like beautiful.

Andy Goveia 17:36

It is very beautiful music. Is there something you learned in preschool this year, Grant, that would help you be a basketball and a baseball player?

SPEAKER_01 17:45

Yeah, a little bit.

Andy Goveia 17:46

Give me one thing.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

Um I can actually do math why I'm doing baseball and dribble and basketball.

Andy Goveia 17:59

Yeah, you can. And then Owen, is there something you learned in preschool that'll help you be an amazing violin player?

SPEAKER_01 18:06

Um, I heard a violin before. And then say like um like in a string and do like space.

Andy Goveia 18:14

That's amazing. Alright, and my last question. What was your favorite thing about coming to school this year? And Owen, you can go first this time.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

Because I feel like we got to like um see my classroom.

Andy Goveia 18:35

Yeah, getting to see your classroom and meeting all your friends. And then what about you?

SPEAKER_01 18:40

Um, I think it's meeting my fourth grade buddies.

Andy Goveia 18:46

Meeting your buddies. What did you like about meeting your fourth grade buddy?

SPEAKER_01 18:48

Um, I like them all things. And I was like, hey, there I guess that the years that we did feel like that's awesome.

Andy Goveia 19:06

Alright, is there anything else you want people to know about preschool before I let us go? Okay, can you both talk into my phone here and tell everybody to have a great summer? Go.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

Have a great summer. Have a great summer.

Andy Goveia 19:35

Live

Where To Find The Podcast

Andy Goveia 19:36

in the lab schools is a production of the ISU Laboratory Schools recorded on the campus of Illinois State University. Connect with us on Facebook or Instagram at Live in the Lab Schools. We'll see you next time.