STEM SERIES PART 1: Educate, Innovate, Transform: Navigating STEM with Dr. Michael Ford

Join us as we take a look into the dynamic world of STEM education and unveil the secrets to transforming your school into a STEM powerhouse. Join us as we sit down with the esteemed Dr. Michael Ford, the visionary Principal of Randolph Howell Elementary STEM School in Maury County, Tennessee. With a well-deserved recognition as one of the one-hundred and fifteen model STEM schools in the state, Dr. Ford not only leads his institution with distinction but also guides and coaches other schools on their journey towards STEM designation. As the recipient of the Excellence in STEM Leadership Award for the state of Tennessee in 2023, Dr. Ford is a true advocate for creating innovative and creative learning environments. Tune in to gain valuable insights into the transformative power of STEM education, the dynamics of collaborative teaching, and the ever-evolving modern classroom. Get ready for an inspiring conversation that promises to reshape your perspective on what STEM is and how it can be successfully infused into your educational endeavors.

Transcript

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I'm Adam Todd and welcome to Classroom Dynamics, a teacher podcast. I believe that the best way to engage students in a 21st century classroom is to immerse them with the transformative tools that will empower each and every one of them to excel in the future world that awaits. My focus is to ignite the spark that propels you and your students into an advanced tomorrow and your journey into that future starts right now. Classroom Dynamics is supported by Logitech. As education continues to evolve, so does Logitech education, your partner in content creation for the classroom. With Logitech's cutting edge technology, students not only learn but also become content creators. Whether it's in-person or online, Logitech's tools are designed to inspire educators and learners alike. Capture every edge edge edge technology, and learn from the students. And then, you can see the content creators. Whether it's in-person or online, Logitech's tools are designed to inspire educators and learners alike. Capture every educational moment in stunning detail and edit, produce and share your creative journey with ease. Logitech education, inspiring the next generation of creators. For more, visit Logitech.com/education, transforming classrooms, one innovation at a time. Introducing the Logitech Zone Learn Headset, a sleek and sophisticated tool crafted to enhance your learning experience. Designed for adaptability, this cutting edge headset effortlessly transforms any environment into a focused learning zone. Be it at home, in a bustling classroom, or on the moon. With crystal clear audio and advanced noise canceling technology, the zone learn headset tellers a personalized learning space for your undisturbed concentration. Immerse yourself in coursework, language learning or virtual presentations with confidence. The precision microphone ensures your voice is heard clearly in virtual classes and meetings, adding impact to your presentations and discussions. Logitech Zone Learn, where sleek design meets advanced technology, revolutionizing the way you learn. Elevate your study sessions, enhance virtual experiences and embrace the future of education with Logitech. Always connected, always focused, always learning. The zone learn headset, your key to success. Welcome to Classroom Dynamics, the podcast where we get into the exciting world of technology and education. Hi everybody, I'm your host Adam Todd and today's episode is packed with information on how you can take the steps to transform your school into a STEM school. And to do just that, we'll sit down with Dr. Michael Ford, the principal of the Randolph-Howell Elementary STEM School in Mori County, Tennessee. Recognize as one of 115 model STEM schools in the state. Dr. Ford not only leads his school with distinction, but also coaches other schools on their journey towards STEM designation. Additionally, Dr. Ford mentors aspiring leaders enrolled in local universities and was honored with the Excellence in STEM Leadership Award for the state of Tennessee. In 2023, Dr. Ford believes in creating learning environments where students engage with essential content through innovative and creative approaches and promotes a culture where teachers collaborate effectively to positively impact lives. Today we're privileged to tap into Dr. Ford's wealth of experience and insights, so join us as we explore the transformative power of STEM education, the dynamics of collaborative teaching and the ever evolving modern classroom. Get ready for an inspiring conversation that promises to reshape your perspective on what STEM is and how it can successfully be infused into your work. We'll be right back. 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He's the principal of the Randolph Howell Elementary STEM School in Maureen County, Tennessee and it's my pleasure to welcome Dr. Michael Ford to Classroom Dynamics to talk all about how you can build your knowledge around STEM and to transform your school into a STEM school. Welcome to Classroom Dynamics. It's awesome to have you on the show with us today. Thanks Adams. Great to be here. Before we even start, tell us a little bit about yourself and your school in Tennessee. Yeah, definitely. So I'm Michael Ford. I have been principal at Randolph Howell Elementary STEM School in Maureen County, Tennessee, Maureen like Bill Murray, if you think about the actor. Been there for 13, 13 years now. Been in education for 21. Our school started the STEM journey. Probably I would say back in 2016. We started down that road. We earned state accreditation in the state of Tennessee during the pandemic spring of 2019. We earned that accreditation and I'll talk about that a little bit later. But proud of my school, proud of the teachers, the kids we have there. We've got a good group. Have a lot of fun trying to keep kids engaged and enjoy what they're doing. So STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math. But what is your definition of STEM in terms of the work that takes place at your school? Yeah, definitely. I think in our STEM journey as a school, we've come across lots of different definitions, right? There was one group called it students, teachers, engaging minds. We pull in the steam and the stream and there's lots of different variations it can take. But anytime we have new staff come onboard at our school, what I really encourage them to think about with STEM is answering the question, how can you do what you've always done differently? And what that does is it kind of takes that pressure off of thinking, STEM is this magical object on a shelf somewhere we've got to find and bring into our classroom and be experts at because that's not what it is. It's really gets down to how do you make the learning more engaging and more relevant for the students. And I think that's not that definition, how to do something differently because I think a lot of times people will assume that it's just trying to find a fix to a problem. Trying to look at how do we recognize what needs to change to fix that problem that we all see in front of us. But I like that, I like the way you put it. I think it's a way to say it and I think it does kind of level the playing field with STEM. What key characteristics define a STEM school then because particularly with yours that's recognizes a model STEM school just like random, how elementary, how does that define it? What is that definition? So there's a group out of the State Department of Education, they kind of run alongside collaborate with the Tennessee Department of Education, Tennessee STEM Innovation Network, TSIN. So that's the State Group and Tennessee that works this for us. They have a rubric that they utilize. So anytime a school is going to apply for STEM designation, there's a rubric that kind of examines five different criteria, five different areas, community partnership. That's one of the areas that they look at just for example. But what I appreciate about the TSI in group is that they know STEM will not look the same in any school is going to look different everywhere you go. And that's a really cool thing. It's not like a prescriptive curriculum. You know, I read or something like that where you get your textbook, you get your curriculum and it's going to look the same. Any classroom you walk in STEM doesn't work that way. It's not a one size fits all. Yes, sir. It's not. Yeah. So I think that's what I really get passionate about because we're a top of one school elementary school pre K through fourth grade. Our kids are hard kids. You know, if you've ever worked in a high poverty school, there's a different dynamic that comes with that. But the opportunities were able to give our students, especially with our STEM lessons, whether they're related to reading, math, science, what have you. When we build those lessons in the hands on learning behavior goes out the window. You don't worry about the miss behavior. The kids get engaged and the learning becomes a lot more more relevant for the kids. Our school in particular, we have six pillars that we focus on with our STEM work. That's just something that's kind of evolved over the years as we've worked on being our STEM school. Those six pillars are creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, communication, character and citizenship and then celebration. So I guess we really have seven, but we put character and citizenship together. But that last one celebration, whether you're a STEM school or not, that's something I would encourage any school, any teacher, any school leader, listening, think about how you celebrate that something that gets overlooked quite frequently. So we're very purposeful in making that one of our core pillars in our building, building those celebrations in for kids and adults. I think that's really important. But when we have those six pillars, it gives us opportunity to build a foundation across the school. So kids can come in. Let's just take our engineering design process, for example. Kids come into kindergarten. They get introduced to that engineering design process and that might just be something as simple as, how do we start brainstorming and thinking about problems. It depends on the lesson and what the teachers doing, but we build that language in and we build those procedures. And so by the time they get to fourth grade, we could even have fourth grade students go back to kindergarten and show the kindergarteners how the EDP process works. I love the pillars. I think I might actually take those pillars and bring them into my building. And so obviously like each one of those pillars, we can unpack. There's a lot that goes into each one. You know, I'm just looking at them thinking, you know, collaboration, for example, we have collaboration and teamwork, rubrics as well, that every grade level works with. So we've got similar collaboration in teamwork, rubrics K2. It's a little bit more user friendly for the younger kids. And then third and fourth grade, it gets a little more advanced. So it might just be something as simple as if you've got a four person group with kindergarten. How do you guys think you shared materials today at the end of the lessons that reflection piece that closure piece. How do you think you shared materials today and they do a smiley face a frowny face or just a flat face because they're not sure. So you know that that's pretty appropriate for kindergarten. Then by the time you get to fourth grade, you can have a little bit more in depth conversation. And obviously, you know, you're middle school high school, you can make it a little bit more in depth. I really like and appreciate that almost that separation of that one size fits all even within the rubrics and just looking at the pillars and themselves. It really doesn't even though it's systemic throughout the school, it's very different from one group to the next. Yeah, that was important for us. The work we did early on, we tried to utilize the same rubric K4 and it was a disaster. And I think that's one of the cool pieces about STEM work. You learn everything's not going to go the way you want it to go. You're going to experience a lot of failure, but the fun thing about it, that just becomes part of the process. The failure can't get you down. You can't feel defeated. You have to try to learn from it, build on it, change it. And so that's what our team worked on early on. Just realizing the words were too much for kindergarten. They weren't necessarily independent readers, so they couldn't read these big long drawn out rubrics. How do we make it more student friendly? It's a great segue into my next question, which is teaching with a balance, right? Teaching with that balance in mind can be very challenging for some teachers. And many teachers are just somewhat afraid of setbacks when they even teach because they're not sure if they fully understand the material, I think, in the first place. But especially when they're teaching STEM projects, what would you say to teachers who are afraid of this type of failure? I think initially don't think about it as failure. Think about it as learning. Like I just said, the failure is going to be part of it. It doesn't matter. I do some coaching with leaders in schools across the state and failure is always part of what you deal with. And if you're talking about high stakes test and Tennessee right now, you're talking about that balance piece, our state, if you're familiar with it is a very high stakes test, heavy state. So kind of a risk now almost to do something a little bit more innovative, a little bit more creative that's not test prep heavy. So that failure piece can run all different directions in our profession, right? So I always encourage teachers and leaders, you know, if something doesn't go, maybe you're going to have a career day for the first time. You want to go all out, go all out that you might have volunteers back out, not show up. So you got to have those backup plans and you can't think about those things. They just failed. It's horrible. It's terrible. We never going to do it again. Back up, learn from it. So first time I've had some teachers try things before they've come to my office in tears. This was horrible. We can't do it again. It was like, well, let's think about what happened. You know, did you have materials prepared to the kids understand? So having those conversations as the leader is really important, making that time for teachers. There's an acronym. These are, this is not my words. I don't remember sitting here. I don't remember the source. So I apologize, but that acronym with failure. It's a first attempt in learning. And then there was somebody I heard at a conference one time they extended that acronym. So think about failure. Failing is the first attempt in learning. Think about failure as it's the first attempt in learning, but you can't change anything unless reflection exists. So I think getting teachers and kids think about reflecting. You know, a lot of times stem when you're any using kids, how to use new hands-on materials. It could be something as simple as cotton swabs or food coloring or whatever teaching the kids, you know, maybe there are different projects. How can you use like a toothpick and a lifesaver and a little bottle of water to save a little worm on or after something. So, you know, if you keep failing at it, you know, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over, right? With no change. So how do you, how do you want to change what you're doing? So the same thing applies to stem lessons. If you've got something and it's not quite going the way you want it to go, how can you change it? You know, how can you modify it? I can give you another example from our school. At one point in our journey with stem work, we were really big on classroom and school wide transformations. So if you're, if you're familiar with that strategy, that concept, you know, your, your goal there is to transform the learning environment to make it more engaging for the kids, but also still keep it standards based or activity based, whatever you're looking at. So we went all out one year, transform the entire school into Jurassic Park. And I mean, it was amazing. We are our goal there was the last week of school. We want to keep kids engaged. We want learning to keep happening. So Jurassic Park, everything had a dinosaur type theme, but we introduced kids to the next year's standards. So kindergarten got introduced to first grade, you know, fourth grade got introduced to fifth grade. We set off the fire alarm. We had a smoke machine going so you have the fog in the park and everything. And then we got to the volcano erupted or whatever that set off the fire alarm. So the fire marshal comes in shuts the whole thing down like he's livid. He's angry. So instead of looking at his failure because it was so purposeful for the kids. We looked at, OK, how can we work around this rule? So we painted the bottom of the walls dark blue the next year all across the school. And then we only had 50% of the walls covered with stuff. So we got around that rule. So that's just an example of how as a team. We didn't take that as failure. We didn't let this rule shut us down. We still gave the kids what they needed and we kept moving up. So that's great. That's a great way to do it. Right. Always find out that you could always find a way. There's always a way. Always a way. What advice would you offer teachers who have never conducted a STEM lesson ever? They might be a new teacher or they it's a new position and they need to start doing that. But and you know that for that need that 21st century classroom need connection to STEM. What would you say to them? I would so we've got a saying in our school where we talk about our activities. Sometimes they can be hands on and minds off and you don't want that. If you have an activity that's hands on and minds off. It might be a really cool activity and look really flashy. But at the end of the day the kids may not be learning anything. So nothing aligned to the standards of the curriculum to the academics and you always want you always want your STEM activities to have some component with your academics there. So always encourage teacher to think about are your activities hands on mind zone or are they hands on minds off. So that really creates a good conversation. So I would start with that look at your standards look at your available curriculum maybe start with your math your science if you have computer science one of those three would be a good starting place. But then I also think if you've never done it start small. You know if you if you start googling stuff and looking stuff up whatever you look for however you look things up there there's there's a ton out there that has STEM thrown on it. Some of its high quality some of it's not you have to use your discernment to figure that out. But for the first anytime I have a brand new teacher in our building I always encourage them start small and start with something that interests you if it doesn't interest you as the adult it's more likely to fall flat with the kids because they're going to get behind your passion and your engagement with it. And that's what's going to get them excited so that would be the best advice I've got start small start with something that impacts you something that engages you as the adult and then also look at your standards I think those three things are probably the most important. It's a good point to because you know even as a principal of a STEM school. You have to look at the strategies that are used in order to connect what they're supposed to be learning in the first place you know putting putting STEM aside we're talking about the basics of the reading the writing the math so as a principle of a STEM school how do you find that balance how do you really figure out where that line is so that you are doing what you need to do but you're also bringing in the future into it. Yeah we we've approached that lots of different ways over the years and we have a STEM teacher now that is included in our special rotations so you think about your PE your music your art STEM is part of that rotation so kids are going to get exposure every week for at least 45 minutes guaranteed I also though like for our classroom teachers so early I said we're elementary so we're self contained so I like for my teachers to kind of be pseudo experts as well so some of what we'll do sometimes is bring in 3D screen not 3D screen green screen technology you know where students can do like a mini broadcast our fourth graders do our school wide broadcast our technology teacher works with them by mid year we will have kids writing the script doing similar to what we're doing here with this podcast right so they'll have our morning announcements and things like that with green screen technology behind them we also have a pretty heavy 3D printing program so teachers are able if you think about math maybe you're working on geometry we've had fourth graders before design 3D shapes so think about your cubes cones things like that they'll design those print them on the 3D printers and then give them to the kindergarten teachers to help teach the kindergarten kids shapes you know so that's just a way we can kind of cross pollinate what the kids are doing across the building I think though from the leadership standpoint I have to know what I'm talking about I've got to be able to point teachers to resources I've got to be willing to get in the classroom with home sometimes and get my hands dirty do what they're doing participate in the projects you know nothing more fun and getting on the roof of the building for an egg drop you know something like that we've done that before I think to though just find in time for support when you're thinking about your master schedule you as a leader of the building you're the one in charge of that schedule typically so we've built in designated STEM time before where you might have 30 minutes to an hour. Every day that gets tricky with whatever state or district requirements are you got to play that game too but I think support and just finding time that that's the biggest thing you know being a listening here be in a reflection partner as a leader but then supporting your teachers with time that those are the biggest ways I've been able to help them. So I come back to what I said earlier about hands own minds all for hands own mind zone thinking about that with the activities you know if you're introducing the kids to a new tool sometimes that just needs to be a hands on activity but we shouldn't be doing that every day for long periods of time you know that just might be something short we're learning like three doodle or pens are younger kids K one they might learn how to use three doodle or introduce some to 3D technology three print technology then the older kids have to know more about how to go into some programs. To design their models to print out so just yeah I think I answered that one yeah no absolutely and you you made a good point to because of the hands on portion right because there are some kids that are going to work better just using their hands there they may not be that writer they may not be the person who likes to sit down with the book and just get lost in the book they like to build they like to do things with their hands. So how do you find that balance then you know because obviously stem is going to lend to those types of students more so then others maybe yeah I think it's going to depend on the grade level you know if you if you're a high school teacher principle whatever you've got a lot more opportunities there because the kids are older a little bit more self sufficient at my level we got our designation in 2019 and a really cool thing that's happened since then we've had a lot of change in things in your pandemic all that stuff or buys live through that but our school is really. But our school is really kind of taking a turn to bring in a agricultural component so we're more of a rural school here in Tennessee so farming gardening things like that that something a lot of our kids experience and they see so we we've built in what's called like a green team and a nature team and so when you're talking about your hands own piece one thing we've done we've got a couple of raised garden beds around the school now a greenhouse and so in the spring of every year we'll have a school wise. We'll have a school wide planting session so the stem teacher will build in lessons around life cycle growing water cycle all that kind of stuff but the kids actually in every grade level sometimes will split it up classes in the grade level to you we're pretty big school so I've got six teachers in every grade but plant different crops right so we're sitting just under 700 kids so you can get a lot of stuff planted with that many kids and the only problem we've run into with that component is it all starts growing over the summer when they're not in school right. But that took a cool turn to where we design these things to become community gardens so over the summer the community can come in and pick whatever they need whatever they want. Holopinos are usually pretty popular around July for the fourth of July right but that kind of gets the kids they're learning about what happens with this seed you see it on paper you see it in a book but they're actually getting to experience it putting it in the ground. That's just kind of one of the hands on things are our nature component though when you're thinking about what we were talking about earlier with the standards we will have nature journals so maybe the kids find a leaf or some type of I don't know rock pebble grass bug what. Pick your poison right but they'll find something that they enjoy they have these nature journals they can sketch about it and then they can write about it so we're pulling in different components from their academic standards and it just gives them a break from that prescriptive curriculum you know a lot of kids when you've got the workbook in front of you the digital workbook now on the student device all those things sometimes I mean for lack of a better way to say it gets boring you know the kids get disengaged and sometimes the adults get this engaged and so really as the leader. Being able to take risk to tell the teachers it's okay you know it's okay to take some time to do something with nature journaling it's okay to have we have drones in our building you know so we'll have drone races let's design a drone course and there's a lot drones are a complicated thing right I have learned that with elementary kids that is a complicated tool to work with kids but they love them and just trying to figure out you know what happens if it crashes into the wall how do we put it back together so so those kind of things I guess what I see though to answer your question. I'm kind of rambling all those things all those different activities we come up with what I see with the kids is a different level of engagement you know sometimes you can have the critics say oh well they're just playing but you're not when you're when you're teaching the kids how to fly that drone when you're teaching them how to use that three due to rep in you're giving them the foundational skills they need you know to possibly if they want to go into the military they're having that foundational skill to learn how to drop a missile on a bad guy you know they're there learn to learn how to do the kids. They're they're learning three with 3d printing they're learning possibly how to build a house for somebody in a more economical way than we currently can with lumber you know so might be far fetch for some of them but I don't think so I think we're really giving them the foundational tools they need to prepare for the world they're going to go into and that's that's why I get so passionate about this kind of learning. I think that's why a lot of my teachers do as well you know that balance question you had earlier though it really gets tricky because the the test you know kind of drive everything we do now so really really being creative and be able I think to tell your story to show the world why is this important why do these kids need that I think that's what kind of the fight we have to fight now you know and that's what we do so that question for you know you did it I think you actually said it you know really nicely before when you brought in that. Cross pollination example because I think that's really what it is you're you're taking you know projects that the kids are doing your incorporate everything is incorporated into it and I think that's that's where teachers struggle the most right so let's even get into the nuts and bolts of of just stem incorporation. What does it successful stem lesson or project at the Randolph Hall elementary stem school look like just from from the basics of it how would it how would it start how would it go through it how would it end. Yeah okay so I mean it's going to depend on the grade level it would depend on the subject but the let's go let's go third grade I'll throw a curve ball at you okay so third grade let's just say that maybe maybe in third grade they're doing something with rocks with geology learning about you know the state rock here in Tennessee all that kind of stuff and so the teachers want to pull in designing a new rock quarry machine you know how are we going to more efficiently dig rocks how are we going to make that replicable how can we do that. How can we make this maybe we're going to have an electric powered rock quarry machine that's more more environmentally friendly right so that's fine that's fun you think about that hands on mind zone piece that we've talked about so what I would look for in that lesson is probably there's going to be probably a week long lesson with that and I'm just making this up I'm not seeing this happen in my school but I'm just trying I'm my point I'll get to my point in just a second so anyway I would expect let's say week long lesson with that so we're going to pull in some rock. Yes we're going to pull in some writing standards we're going to pull in some science standards obviously we're going to pull in a little bit of math problem okay and what I would like to see by the end of that week is three things one I want to see evidence when I'm in and out of those classrooms how are the kids using our engineering design process so how are they how are they having time to think creatively how are they thinking through that problem how are they having multiple ways to interact with failure right so the first design they have it they can be a lot of things. They have it they can't figure out how to make an electric rock quarry machine that's going to be powerful enough to bust through the grant right so how are they going to work through that I want to see evidence of that I want to see evidence of their either sketches or their physical model but basically our engineering design process it's based on Mitch Resnick's work so if you're familiar with them lifelong kindergarten that's what our engineering design process is based on so that cyclical method with that that's what I'm looking for but then I'm also looking for some type of product presentation so we're going to get some of those. We're going to get some of those ELA skills in where they're listening speaking skills they're presenting their learning how comfortable are the kids presenting what they've done do we pull in one of our community partners that might be a local rock quarry and and present this to them and get some feedback from them I want to see how well the students respond to that feedback right and then the third thing I think I'm looking for is reflection so we talked about the you know the collaboration rubrics a teamwork rubrics if it's a team project I want to see how much time do we give the kids at the end of the day. I want to see how much time do we give the kids at the end to reflect and talk about the learning you know what did I learn about this how did this change the way I think about the world is there any way I could have worked better with my peers could I is there a way I could have been a better teammate you know that's the kind of reflection we typically look for so any project any grade it's going to look different K for obviously but those are the three components I look for the evidence of the engineering design process how is that integrated how is the presentation piece there so how are we presenting what we've learned some way to someone and then we're going to see the results of the results of the design process. So I think that's one and then how are we reflecting on our learn I think those are the three crucial components any stimulus I love that X factor to a bringing the professionals in to bring in that community together to actually make that connection and to show the kids look what you're doing really could be applied out there in the real world past what you're doing now I love that yeah in that takes time you know the pandemic kind of through a loop in that for us a little bit so like many other schools I'm sure rebuilding those community partnerships and rekindles in that has been one of the challenges we've had along our journey but it is important. So for teachers who may be unsure where to start what would you suggest as it just a basic framework is working with a grade team the way to go or is it planning with a like a focused team perhaps that is made up of different disciplines like your you know like a science teacher involved with your grade team and a media arts teacher along with your your physical ed and your art teacher all those what would step one look like in that regard. I think I really I think the first thing the first and most important thing for any teacher that's not done this but wants to start this is think about why why why do you want to start doing a stem learning why is that important I think that's the first thing to really think through are you doing it because you see your kids need to be more engaged are you doing it because you're your burnout you want to do something different those are all acceptable answers right if you're doing it just to jump on the stem bandwagon so to speak I don't think that's a good answer I've seen I've seen schools I've seen whole schools fill not get designation because they didn't know why they didn't know why they were trying to do stem work in their building and I think that's the most important thing answer that first and then after you answer that I think it's important to think about where your risk acceptance is so what you're acceptable level of risk if you're risk a verse it's going to be hard to be successful because if you're in a building where it's not like a school wide movement a school wide initiative or a district where it's not a you know district wide initiative you've got to have a pretty good risk tolerance because you're going to be going against the grain you're not going to get the kind of support you may want or need and so I think in those kind of situations if you have a couple of people willing to go with you it's going to be easier it's going to feel better you can be the lone ranger and you can start the movement too I've seen that happen but I think those two questions are important why why do I want to do this and then how do I what how risky am I you know am I my risky educator or not I think that's important but once you get through that I mean the sky is the limit I earlier I said start small start with things that interest you as an educator I think those are the two other important things and what all happened though as you start experience in small chunks of success kids are going to start talking parents are going to start talking colleagues are going to start noticing more people will start coming along with you you've just got to be able to articulate what you're doing and why you're doing it and then that's going to help more people jump on there with you so I think that's a tough question to answer because it's going to look different in every school as well you may have some school where a lot of people are they're just kind of burn out we want to do something a little bit different we want to approach this like I said earlier you know stem for us how do we do what we've always done differently so thinking about that you know if there's other people that can come alongside you it's always great it's always good to have a team I've seen PE teachers get involved with STEM learning I've seen music teachers get involved I've seen where you know grade levels are doing something you know I'm trying to think we've done so much over the years there was well even go back to the Jurassic Park stuff right so like our PE teacher it wasn't necessarily this might be a little bit more important to you because I'm not talking about that. This might be a little more hands-on minds off but PE you know sometimes it's okay to be that way because we're just working out you know how do we escape from the dinosaurs to set up an obstacle course to get out of Jurassic Park and you have to run Dodge you know jump lead but that my point there is it brought it into the related arts for the kids you know they got to participate in something similar so it can happen I would always say a team is going to make it more effective but sometimes you've got to be the one willing to jump out there and take that risk first to get everybody to start following by the game. It's great advice I even like you know if anyone heard anything specific from that that rang a bell one thing that rang a bell for me just now was you made a comment about pick something that interests you as the teacher and I think sometimes it's the other way around right we will look at our kids and say how do I get them involved I want to interest them. You know little Joe over there is is only into sports cars how am I going to get him into it but if you're not as the educator and facilitating if you're not passionate if you're not into it I think it could fail and and trip right there you know so I actually do like that that outlook where you actually say to the teacher hey you know what what interests you what in your curriculum are you really interested in that sparks something that you can then expand into the class I think that's a great piece of advice. I can give you a simple example with that to because sometimes we try to make stem like I talked about earlier this magic object that's up on the shelf we've got to go on this quest to find right and that's not the case always you know you think about math we've learned about angles right so one of the most effective stem lessons I ever saw we have the kids design a paper airplane you design the paper airplane however you want to design it make the paper airplane folded up and everybody knows unless you're some origami specialist how hard it is to fold paper right and do it exactly the way you want it. So I was thinking okay we're making paper airplanes that's fine you fly on test fly on them have the kids get their airplane bring it back unfold it and start measuring the angles where they folded the paper so maybe you think that's a 90 degree angle it's actually 88 degrees well how did that slight error two degrees how did that affect the way that paper airplane fluid did it did it cross the line we had drawn on the floor to get past for everybody to survive the flight right then you carry that over to real life if we're not. aware of mistakes if we don't pay attention you know two degrees can throw something off majorly can make a building straight or crooked you know so that was a really simple lesson the teacher was having some management issues kids kind of acting up paper wads more than paper airplanes again an opportunity to make the airplane she kind of met the behavior accepted it and turn it into a really powerful learning opportunity for kids right so that that's kind of a simple example of what I'm talking about that's great I it real but it's not really good for you know I'm not. talking about that's great I it really but it makes a lot of sense it really does it makes a lot of sense yeah we have about two more minutes left and we're going to before we and we're going to play a game I like to call input output so I'm just going to ask you a couple of questions scheme the very first thing that comes to your mind there's no wrong answers okay okay what's one app on your phone that you just can't live without I hate to say it but probably Twitter X whatever it's called these days I I said listen if they're going to probably change the name again soon probably so I usually say the same thing Twitter X I call it one big thing though. exactly if you could go back at time and give yourself one piece of technology from today that you didn't have as a kid what would it be and why it would be a 3d printer because I have seen the power of those things and as a kid I tore so many toys up just out of curiosity and broke so many parts now you could fix them right so everything you messed up out of curiosity you could still play with a new teacher contacts you and ask you to give them one piece of advice what's the one thing you say to him or don't give it up. what do you look forward to every day when you step into your school at this point in my career an adult that I can help I think I think and I might get long winded here sorry I think that we're experiencing levels of burnout in our profession that we may have never seen and so I think I'm always on lookout for an adult that needs an encouraging word that needs a smile sometimes needs a hug fist bump what have you that's awesome finally if you could have one STEM related person past or present could be a good thing to do is to get a good thing. past or present could be anybody want comes your school for a career day visit and then of course show off on social media afterwards what would it be and why past or present past or present your choice. we'd have to go with Einstein right just just because it's Einstein I mean there's so many cool things and conversations it would be really cool to see how he would you know explore things he had questions about with the technology we have now it'd be really cool to see that it's a great point good way to look at it right is it's amazing how time difference and how much technology changes does influence that a little bit well listen this has been so informative and full of such amazing information I'm really glad we had a chance to learn more about you and the amazing work that you're doing at your school where can teachers go to find out more about the work that you're doing or you or anything about STEM in general. yeah you can go to our Facebook page our Twitter page Twitter X page whatever you do a Google search Randolph how H O W L elementary STEM school Randolph how elementary STEM school that's pretty much how our Facebook's coded how our Twitter's coded you can email me directly if you want to my email is M F O R D at M a U R Y K 12 dot org so M Ford at Murray K 12 dot org I'll answer emails I'll respond always happy to help a good resource is up that state resource I mentioned earlier T S I N give them a Google T S I N T is in Tom my southern draw sometimes makes things blurry T S I N dot org you can Google them they've got a ton of good resources there to good information so listen for those of you who have been listening thank you for tuning in today and make sure that you share what you've learned or any reflections that you may have had and take us on Twitter at class dynamics or Instagram at classroom dynamics podcast we always look forward to hearing your thoughts on our podcast and sharing the different ways in which you're using what you've learned and you've learned a lot today I'll tell you that much you can also help support classroom dynamics with this little is $3 a month at classroom dynamics podcast dot buzz prop dot com once again I'd like to thank Dr. Michael Ford of the Randolph how elementary STEM school in Tennessee for joining us today on classroom dynamics it's been a pleasure having you on really enjoy this conversation a lot I did too thank you very much for your time and that brings us to the end of this episode of classroom dynamics where knowledge and inspiration meets innovation I hope you've enjoyed today's discussion and found it both insightful and uplifting as always my goal is to provide you with practical strategies engaging stories and powerful insights that can fuel your motivation as an educator I believe that when knowledge and inspiration do come together incredible things can happen in your classroom and for all of you who may feel that it's too late to strengthen your craft I challenge you to make it your mission to do so you've worked hard to get to where you are today and it's never too late to infuse new life into your work so why not make today that day to do so I'm Adam Todd and you've been listening to classroom dynamics a teacher podcast you can follow classroom dynamics on X at class dynamics or on Instagram at classroom dynamics podcast if you haven't already go to Apple podcast and subscribe rate and review this podcast and if you know a teacher who may benefit from today's show please share it with them we'll be back soon with more captivating conversations inspiring stories and strategies that you can implement into your everyday routines until then keep igniting that spark in your classroom and never stop believing in the incredible impact you have as an educator you are more powerful and inspirational than you think if you enjoyed this episode you'll enjoy Moby diversity and professional growth navigating brain pop with Dr. Barbara Hubert in this enlightening episode of classroom dynamics join us as we dive into the dynamic world of educational technology with the renowned Dr. Barbara Hubert the senior director of learning design at brain pop Dr. Hubert shares her expertise on the innovative features that make brain pop a transformative learning tool for students and educators alike but there's also a real intentionality behind the learning design of not just the movies but all of the learning activities that are connected to the movies in that topic and so we know that again background knowledge is super important for how you're going to engage in texts in the world and I mean within a school context and outside of a school context(upbeat music)(music playing)