← Catalyzing Classroom Change
Catalyzing Classroom Change
Episode 3: Building Buy-In for Classroom Innovation
00:33:36
Maureen Delgado and Steven Laslo, administrators in Chicago Public Schools, share how they supported educators in transforming their classrooms to be more student-centered.
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- [00:08]
A
Welcome to Catalyzing Classroom Change, a podcast from the Modern Classrooms Project.
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B
Let's kick things off. Thank you everybody for joining us for our Building Buy in for Classroom Innovation webinar. I am super excited to chat through what Buy in can look like from a school based perspective. We've got Maureen and Steve here with us who are going to share their perspective of their school community at Clinton elementary in Chicago. But before all that, I want to just do some quick introductions about myself and Modern Classrooms projects. So my name is Samantha. I work for the Modern Classrooms Project. And if you aren't already aware, the Modern Classrooms Project provides professional development for educators, supported supporting them in learning how to implement a blended, self paced, mastery based classroom. And you know, that's why I'm here today. I believe very much in the Modern Classrooms model and the mission. I'm a former educator myself. I taught in Arizona, California and South Korea and I ultimately ended up burnt out and left education after only five years, which is the, I think, I think they say if you can make it past those first five years, you're like, you're in it for, for good. And for me, I felt like I was in it those, those first five years and I was giving so much of myself and I was failing. I really noticed that like there were at least 10 or 20% of my students in my class who I would, I would give the lesson. I would think we really got this, like, everyone's really engaged, we're having a good time. And then, you know, the test would come along and it would show that like, you know, maybe students don't understand as much as I think they do or they're not as engaged as I thought they were. And so for me, I knew that the way around that was to personalize education, to differentiate to my students and to really support each student and meet them where they're at. But I had no idea how to do that. And so for me it was, it was, I knew what I should be doing, but I didn't know the how. And so I really believe that if I'd had something like the Modern Classrooms Project in, in my classroom, I would still be in the classroom today. So that is my why for being here. I'm hopeful that today we can talk through some solutions maybe to what, what drove me from the classroom and help create a little bit more of a sustainable system for all the educators who are still in schools today. Now, of course, I had mentioned the Modern Classrooms Project. We provide that professional development for educators. If you have not Already gone through our Virtual Summer Institute. I highly recommend checking it out. Enrollment is now open, and the deadline for Virtual Summer Institute closes June 4. You'll see there's a QR code here on the screen. It's going to lead you to modern classroom where you'll be able to see all the opportunities we have and scholarships we have for educators who want to join the Summer Institute. So without further ado, I would love to turn things over to Maureen and Steve, who are administrators, as I've mentioned, at Clinton elementary and Chicago Public Schools. Maureen, would you like to take a moment just to introduce yourself?
- [03:28]
C
Sure. Thanks. Good evening, everyone. My name is Maureen Delgado, and I'm the principal here at Clinton Elementary School in Chicago. Just a little bit of background. So I made it past the five years that Sam just talked about, and I've been working in Clinton school for over 20 years. I actually started as a teacher in our middle school, in our middle school in seventh and eighth grade, and then transitioned to assistant principal. And I've been the principal here since 2016. And it's a unique school and has a lot of diversity, which we'll go over in a little bit. But it really touches to me as my family's first generation immigrants from another country. And so a lot of our students really have the same experiences or similar experiences too, I have had when I was growing up. And I'll turn it over to Steve to introduce himself.
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A
My name is Steve Laszlo. I'm assistant principal at Clinton. So, I mean, I also trudged on through past the five years in cps. A CPS kid grew up in Chicago Public Schools and taught here and now administered here. So that is kind of my dedication to Chicago and its kids. But I'm also dedicated to the teachers at Clinton and trying to find that best way to differentiate for what we're doing and for the spectrum of learners we have. These last two years of being really involved in modern classrooms has shown teachers a path towards that differentiation and that personalization. So I think that's kind of where involved and. And kind of advocates for it as well now.
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C
Yeah.
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B
Thank you both for introducing yourself and sharing. So now I'd love to just have you give us a little bit of background on your school community. Tell us a little bit about Clinton. So, Maureen, do you want to kick it off?
- [05:27]
C
Sure. So Clinton School, we're located in the Westridge neighborhood of Chicago. So on the Far north side, we have about 1,000 students, preschool through eighth grade. So it's a very large school. We have over 40 different languages that are spoken here. We get a lot of students that are coming to us as newcomers, that are immigrants or refugees. So some of our refugee population may not have been in school previously or may have just attended school through refugee camps or things like that. And so we get a lot of students that have been through trauma back in their home countries. And so we really try to strive to meet the needs of all of our kids, both academically and social, emotionally. We also have a gifted program here. So we do have a comprehensive gifted program where students, based on their performance, are part of that program in grades three to eight. So we have both ends of the spectrum, as Steve said, we also have a high percentage of our families are low income as well. And we are part of the community schools initiative. So that is a grant that we receive from the state that allows us to do after school and summer programming that can help us highlight some of the work that we're doing inside in, during the school day. So one of the things that kind of led us to modern classrooms was some of the work that we started doing with personalized learning. So back in 2016, when I became the principal, one of the things I did is had one on one meetings with the teachers and kind of tried to see where we wanted the school to go. And one of the challenges that a lot of people had, which Steve alluded to previously, was really meeting the needs of all students. So we have varying needs, and we have students that transfer in or transfer out throughout the school year. And so a lot of our teachers are great at differentiation, and they're great at working together and collaborating with our families and with one another. But it's really hard to meet those kids when there is so much transition. And so I started looking at personalized learning and ways that we could kind of bring that to our school by visiting other schools, as well as working with the Chicago Public Schools Department of Personalized Learning. So I started investing in that. And then based on that, some of our teachers had already found some resources for modern classrooms. And so we were given the opportunity last spring to have teachers be able to take the summer. The summer course. And also they were able to receive a stipend of $500 once they completed it. And so we decided to embark on that and kind of see how that would tie in with the work that we've been doing. And since then, one of the things that we've really noticed is an increase in student engagement. So one of the things that we had been working on for several years was bringing in student ownership and student voice into our, into our classrooms. And really this Modern classrooms project has helped us engage students, have students be able to better track their progress. This always, this goes down into like our kindergarten being able to track our progress, have ownership, and also high interest in what they're learning. The other thing that we noticed was that some of our behavioral issues lessened just because we were able to meet students where they were at. And I'll turn it over to Steve to talk about the other two bullet points if we want to go back to that for a second. Sam.
- [09:19]
A
Oh, just to highlight some of those. You can tell the minute you walk into classrooms that are using, that are really moving forward in personalized learning as well as modern classrooms, you'll see the student ownership you see. And then, you know, in terms of behavior there is everyone's doing their own thing, everyone's focused, everyone's pushing. So there aren't necessarily those folks you could like grab and get into some shenanigans. So you have that, you know, you have that opportunity so you can kind of see it in the classroom. So, and that's kind of, you know, that led to, you know, seeing it in the classroom and being able to see it in other teachers classrooms as they were instituting all the path of modern classrooms has kind of led to that teacher collaboration, whole teams working together to collaborate and create and create units and create and create videos. And it just led to, you know, the efficiency. Teachers are getting things done and be able to have more time to work with students individually or in small groups. And one of the nice stories as well was supported risk taking. We're taking great teachers and then putting faith in them to try something completely new. And that is a step out that teachers need the support to do. People are, they are masters of their domain. They are experts. However, to change everything up and switch everything up and kind of change a new thing. We've got to be there to support them and get them do that. Talking to one of our teachers, that's one of our great, you know, modern classroom leaders. And you know, he was saying that some of his friends at other schools wanted to try, you know, wanted to do it, but were nervous about it. And I said, well, you know, it doesn't matter. You know, they can do it anywhere. You know, it's not curriculum dependent. It's not, it doesn't need to have this or that. And like, no, no administrator is going to be mad if you started this. But he said no. He said no, Steve, it's you have to. If they don't feel like they're encouraged to go down that path to, you know, then they might not, they might not have the confidence to do it. So that goes into our supported risk taking. It's kind of giving them the confidence to try something new and fail a little bit on the way to even a better, a better version of themselves. So that's just kind of, that's kind of, you know, all the things that we've been talking about. Anything to add, Maureen?
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C
No. I think that kind of leads us to the next slide, which shows how many of our teachers have taken advantage of this. So last year when it was first offered, I highly touted it and I also aligned it with the work that we had been doing previously. And so we did have a number of participants that took advantage of it right in June, which is the beginning. And so about 25% of our teachers did take advantage of it. And these, a lot of them were veteran teachers. For anybody that has been in education long enough, you know that sometimes when you ask teachers to do something in the summer, coming off a pandemic of two very difficult years of teaching, it's asking a lot of them. And a lot of times a lot of the professional development that people are exposed to are things that maybe sounds great in theory but not so much in practice, and they can't figure out how to implement it in their classrooms. And so sometimes teachers can be a little turned off by pd. And so I left, teachers signed up for it, and then the school year ended and then I heard nothing because they were all doing this individually at home. And so I was holding my breath. And then I finally had the veteran teacher that sent me an email and said this was best PD she has ever been a part of and that she feels revitalized and rejuvenated to start the year. And then a few other veteran teachers that also responded. And so I realized that we were onto something great. And so that was one of the things that was, to me was affirming because I've really stressed the teachers need to take risks. Like Steve says, we have great teachers here. We have a very stable teaching staff. They have been here for many years. They really are part of our community. But what they were doing was working for them. We were, you know, we had standardized test scores that were, that were really great. We were, you know, a high level performing neighborhood school in the city of Chicago. Everything was working well. But yet we're asking them to try something new, to make it Even better. And so these veteran teachers that realized that what they were doing through this Modern Classrooms project was things that they could implement that first day of school was really exciting for them. And so from there, we had another nine teachers in July that took it. And then you'll see that we had a little bit more of an increase in October. And the reason for that is because teachers were back in school and they started it. And was it messy sometimes? At first, yes. And that was fine. And I think that that is another thing as an administrator, when you go into the classroom and it is a little bit messy sometimes, and maybe they have to make some changes, really supporting the teacher with that, not so that they become scared and, you know, revert back to what they were doing before, but support them in the small changes that they've made, partner them up with somebody else that is doing the same project and having them work together. And I think those are some of the things that really helped to get some of the teachers that were struggling feel a little bit more comfortable with it. And then we had another, you know, three in January that went through it. And then now in May, we have another seven people signed up and one already signed up for the summer. So by the end of this summer, we'll have 78% of our teachers that will have completed the program. And this includes all of our teachers, not just our homeroom teachers or content based teachers, but also our PE teachers, our art teachers, and our music teachers as well. And so this is something that we are looking to transform our entire school and lead it school wide. And so I think that really what helped to buy this in was those 17 initial people and their selling of the project, the Modern Classrooms project, and their really belief in it. And also both Steve and myself and our other assistant principal really supporting that work as they continue to grow and evolve. Do you want to add anything, Steve?
- [16:15]
A
Oh, I mean, it just, you know, I think, you know, Maureen, you know, when she talked it up, she talked it up to our fifth and sixth grade team. And that fifth and sixth grade team was the perfect team to kind of, you know, lead that charge. So I think there's a little bit of, you know, strategy in who. In who are the people that are respected and are respected and, you know, kind of can be those ambassadors. And I think, though, you know, those folks as well as the, you know, veterans and new teachers, all those that cross section of people that really took charge, I think they really, really allowed it to really grow as fast as it did. We could not have done that without the teacher, word of mouth. And then going to. It's like, now it starts to invade other grade levels. One teacher jumps in, and then they show it to another person. Another person gets excited about it and does it as well. So it's just kind of slowly working from word of mouth and getting to a point where. Where I think everyone's doing it, and then just trying to create as many opportunities as we can for teachers to get into other classrooms. Because it's not real until you see it in action and you see how it can work, how it can work with our kids, you know, because everybody thinks, oh, that works there, or that works there, it works here. And you. And you're showing people that it works here. So I think that's also important.
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B
It's so interesting to hear you talk about this because you're putting a lot on that initial cohort of educators. I think 25%, it's a great first cohort to have go through. And I would say it may be slightly higher than what we would typically see at a school, but 78% in your latest cohort, that is unheard of. That level of adoption, that level of even just willingness to check it out is not something that we see all the time. And so I think you're giving a lot of credit to that first round of folks, But I also think that giving that space for educators to see one another in their classrooms is huge. But also I think maybe you're being a bit humble and that you also give a lot of planning time for folks to collaborate. And I think that that level of collaboration within your school around the modern classrooms model and modern classrooms prep is also something I haven't. I haven't seen in a lot of schools. Would you be willing to talk a little bit more about, like, the kind of infrastructure you've created for educators to collaborate?
- [18:51]
C
Yeah, sure. So one of the things I believe is that as an administrator, what I try to do is tie everything together. And so this modern classrooms approach is something that is tied into all aspects of our school day. So whether it's, you know, through. Through our unit planning, through our school improvement plan, I also tied into formal observations and everything so that everybody can kind of see that connection and how this will support them. And so our teachers, you know, that are doing this really well, it does require a lot of planning. And unfortunately, I think as educators, everyone feels there's not enough hours in the day. And also trying to find times for teams to work together can be really difficult. And so one of the things that I was able to do is really kind of look at our budget and figure out how can I provide some release time so that teachers can work together during the school day. I had teachers that were willing to work after school, but, you know, putting an additional three or four hours in the evening is not as productive as it is during the school day. And so we were able to get substitutes in. And I what I told teams is, you let me know how much time you need and when you need it. And so through that, I was able to get substitutes aligned for them. And, you know, a lot of our teachers don't like to be out of the classroom. They hate being out of the classroom. Well, another great thing with the Modern Classrooms project is when you're out of the classroom and it's okay because kids know what to do and they're able to do it and they're able to continue working. So even if you have a substitute in the room, it is not a lost day because students know what is expected of them and they can continue kind of moving through their different either game board or platform or whatever they're using. They can continue to move through that and continue to grow and continue to learn. So even when students are sick or teachers are sick or they're at a PDF, kids are still learning. And so as teachers realized that when they were implementing this, when they were out of the classroom, kids were still able to do it, they were more apt to say, okay, I need to work on this and this is how we're going to do it. And so some of our teams, where we do have multiple teachers at a grade level that are working on using the Modern Classrooms project, they do meet together, they divvy up the work, and then they determine who's going to do it. We've also had our 5th and 6th grade math team where they share the videos too. So students get to see their teacher do a lot of the videos, but they also get to see the other 6th grade math teacher and then another 6th grade math teacher do videos as well. So they get a little bit of an exposure to everyone at their grade level. So, yeah, I think finding that funding source is difficult as a principal, but it does help teachers realize that you understand that they're putting a lot of planning and a lot of their personal time into it and you're supporting them. And this whole process is about figuring out ways to support teachers to do their work.
- [22:13]
A
We also, in terms of there's also some embedded situations where Chicago Public Schools Flex has a flex day professional development system where you take a day instead of this day and you spread it out across the year and have after school meetings. So we were able to do professional learning communities in those. Many of those were focused on modern classroom as well and led by some of our teachers. So that was just another way to find a different place where you could introduce it to some folks, you could give an opportunity to take it to the next level for other folks. So we're trying to kind of rework that next year as well to support all the various teachers that we have on the spectrum of modern classrooms. You have people that adopted it super fast and are rolling. You have people that are going a little bit slower. So we have all those folks that are well meaning, but we have to figure out how to differentiate our support for all those people too and figure out how we're going to manufacture all these opportunities for all these different little communities within our school.
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B
Yeah, thank you for bringing that up. The educators who go through a modern classrooms model transition, you know, I think they're always way more successful if they're doing it in the context of a professional learning community. It's just like so much easier when you've got someone who's helping to keep you accountable and then also to know that like you're not going through this total reframe of perspective alone. Right. So thank you for bringing that up. And Steve, I would love to ask you this next question just around like, what have been your most important discoveries or takeaways in going through, I mean, not just this transition for your educators, but just like in supporting your school community.
- [24:03]
A
So in terms of our community, it's just, it is from an edu. From a student standpoint, like we have to empower our teachers to deal with anybody coming in from anywhere in the world at any day of the week and to have the time and humanity to deal with that in the midst of what they're doing. So how do we create an opportunity for them that students are still engaged and do all of that? That's an impossible task, but it's made workable with things like this. So I think that is, it's that opportunity to differentiate and to have a system in play where they can differentiate that is kind of allows teachers to do the good work that they have to do every day. So I think, you know, it's kind of giving people a workable system and giving people a workable system where they can, where they can manage it, where they're not going to leave the profession because they're overwhelmed by the incredible. And you can be overwhelmed by it. There's so much, there's so much need. There's so much need and we have to try to figure out. But just giving people the time and space to address students needs is kind of what work with us. And I think that's that, you know, given everyone's got a spectrum of learners, it's just, you know, for our spectrum of learners and the broad spectrum of learners, this is what I think is, is really an opportunity. And then I have to find within, you know, as I'm looking at modern classroom and how we can apply to, to professional learning at my school and how I can apply what I've learned in modern classroom to not only support, but also kind of reframe how I do adult education. Like all those things are kind of, you know, that's a little sidebar, but it's not. It's the sidebar, but it allows you to change that frame of reference. And for an old dog like me that's been doing this a long time, it's nice to kind of reframe and get that energized feeling about reframing things and changing the way you look at things. And so I kind of live vicariously through the teachers and that's that as well.
- [26:17]
B
It's so funny because, you know, obviously our students, they love having voice and choice in their learning, right? But so do we as adults. And like, that shouldn't come as a surprise to any of us, but like, we've just been doing things in a structured way for so long that like, it gets hard to see up outside of that. Right. So I totally hear that. Maureen, what would you say has been like your, your biggest takeaway or biggest learning in supporting your school community?
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C
I think one of the greatest things that I've enjoyed seeing is teachers being revitalized and excited about teaching again, especially some of our more veteran staff, for them to be able to feel like they're really accomplishing something in their classroom and working with students that, that historically maybe they would not have been able to spend as much time with. One of the things that I hear time and time again is I know my students so much better than I ever did before. And to me, that says a lot. I really believe in student learning, but also in adult learning. And you know, my goal has always been to make sure that teachers are continuing to learn and to continuing to grow. And I think this has given us the right way of kind of approaching it. And what Steve kind of alluded to, our goal in the summer is really to figure out a way for us as an admin team to be able to emulate that for our teachers too. Since they've had such a great response from their students, we're hoping that they will also enjoy having kind of the same type of adult learning education experience and that it'll meet their needs in a better way than we've been able to before.
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B
That's very cool. Yeah. I've heard of other districts doing, modeling their professional learning after the modern classrooms model, so I can't wait to see what you do. I know we're getting close on time, and so I want to first just thank you all for sharing your, your time and your expertise with us. And I would love it if we could go out with you all just giving us your piece of advice. If you're talking to a school administrator who wants to support their school, you know, just really in like answering the needs of educators, what would you, what would you leave them with? Maureen?
- [28:46]
C
I think what I would say is that you really have to think about ways to support your teachers. And so before having them kind of start the process, really thinking about what are you going to do as an administrator to help support that process, whether it's having release time for them to be able to plan together or it's that understanding of a little bit of chaos when somebody first takes it over, and also to be able to understand the process yourself. And I think that that's really important as an administrator before you start implementing, I think it's important to know what's expected. And so my suggestion would be to take the, to take the class and take the course yourself so that you have an understanding of where it's coming from before, you know, asking teachers to be able to do it.
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B
And Steve, what would be your advice?
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A
I was going directly with that too. I mean, you really have to delve into it and go learn it because. And it's one of those things that it's workable for administrators because it's on your own time. You know, it's just like you can hit the deadlines, you could, you could spend a lot of time or not as much time, but you get, you get what you need to be able to understand where teachers are coming from and understand the ask. It's, you have to understand the ask so that you can kind of commiserate with what, what the ask is, you know, the what, what's someone's hang up? Is it doing their first video is it, you know, and these are easy things, but they're not easy for everybody. So just, like, knowing all those pieces, doing it at your own time, doing it. Mine was Sunday evening, before the before, before the deadline. That was my. That was my. That was my jam for me, getting it done. But I just think it made me feel so much better, and it made the teachers feel encouraged that I was going through it as well. So I think there's like kind of, you know, brother in arms type of thing as well. So that's. I was going, maureen, she stole it. But that was what I was about to say. So I'm saying it anyways. The one thing that I wanted to also say, though, is I just. When we've had modern classrooms, folks come in and come to see classrooms. One of the most exciting things for me is seeing some kids that would never be the ones to talk to the people about exactly what's going on in the classroom, et cetera. Some of those kids, the boys and the girls would be doing. They would never be the ones to raise their hand to be excited about this or that. I've seen it before. But when they're in that classroom, they know what to do. They feel confident to talk about it. They're explaining everything to them. And that is like that. That's that piece where people need to see that, because when you. Those kids getting fired up, that weren't fired up before, that's what, you know, that's the, you know, that's the what turns people's ideas. So it's just kind of seeing. Get out and see in modern classrooms, see it in a classroom, see it in a school to see what it looks like so that you can have an idea.
- [31:49]
B
So I agree with that, Steve. I've been lucky enough to visit Clinton, and every class I visited, pretty much any student, you could go up to any student and ask them what they were working on, and they could. They could not only be an ambassador for the class, but also for the way in which the class is being taught, which was really cool. Again, thank you, Maureen, and thank you, Steve, so much for joining us. This has been a very, very quick 30 minutes, and I hope that everybody who's attended here that you're getting something out of this conversation. We will be continuing to recruit through June 4th for our virtual summer institute, and that includes a scholarship for all Chicago educators. So if you want to replicate what's happening at Clinton with your students, with your educators, that's something that you can do. It's totally within reach. So thank you all again for joining us, and I hope you have a great rest of your evening and we will see you next time.
- [32:45]
C
Thank you.
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B
Bye.
- [32:53]
A
Thank you so much for listening. Be sure to check out this episode's show notes in your podcast player or on the web for more information about the speakers in today's show. You can learn more about the Modern classrooms project at www.modernclassrooms.org and you can learn the essentials of our model for free. At least learn.modernclassrooms.org you can follow us on social media at ModernClassProj. That's P R O J and that'll do it for us. So be sure to tune in next time for another episode of Catalyzing Classroom Change.