Voices from the Classroom: The State Teachers of the Year Podcast

Voices from the Classroom: The State Teachers of the Year Podcast


S2. Ep6: Let Go to Grow - Jennifer Wolfe, 2021 New York Teacher of the Year

November 06, 2021

 Music


>> Hey, everyone. Sarah Brown Wessling here from the Council of Chief State School Officers' National Teacher of the Year Program and I'm excited to introduce Voices from the Classroom, the State Teacher of the Year podcast. CCSSO's National Teacher of the Year Program provides a platform for exceptional educators to elevate issues that affect teachers and their students, expand their leadership roles, and inform policy and practice. I was named National Teacher of the Year in 2010 and since then, I've been committed to sharing the stories and elevating the voices of the State Teachers of the Year. It is my hope that this podcast will give you insight into the incredible work they do. The 2021-2022 School Year has commenced and many educators have used their experiences over the last two years to reflect on how they can better serve students to ensure their overall success. In these new episodes, the 2021 State Teachers of the Year will share how they use the shift in learning environments as an opportunity to refine their approach to teaching so they can better support students and their varying needs. You can join the conversation on social media by using the hashtag,#ntoy21, or by visiting us online at ntoy.org. That's N-T-O-Y.org.


>> Hi, my name is Jasmine Estes. I am the Senior Communications Specialist at CCSSO and I am thrilled to have Jennifer Wolfe with us. Jennifer, would you please introduce yourself?


>> I am Jennifer Wolfe and I'm the 2021 New York State Teacher of the Year. I teach in Oceanside, New York, high school social studies and this is my 25th year of teaching.


>> Wow, 25 years. That is incredible. You probably --


>> I can'tbelieve it either.


>> You probably have so much knowledge to share with everyone. That is really admirable. Thank you for sticking with the profession.


>> Thank you. Well, I mean, I can't imagine doing anything else. This is where my heart is.


>> Love to hear that. We love to hear that. So, Jennifer, the title of our podcast series for this season is, Let Go to Grow. And we want to hear more about either a practice, strategy, or concept that you will keep, that you decided to keep for the 2021-2022 School Year or a practice, strategy, or concept you decided to let go of. So, if you want to elaborate on either or both those.


>> Yeah. Well, I could probably do both because I've been thinking about that a lot. I noticed that last year, even though it was my 24th year of teaching, I felt like a brand new teacher. I had to redo, you know, everything I did because you couldn't just turn on the camera, you know, and teach. There was a -- it's a very different thing to teach in a virtual world as opposed to right in person. And I had to do a hybrid system where I had kids online in front of me on the computer and then I had kids in front of me live, right? So, what I noticed was I could no longer do things like grade them all the time, for example, or assign as much homework as I did, or demand that they turned in things on time. I found that in the absence of being with me every day and constantly being reassured by kind of being in our space, that kids kind of lost their way in a way. You know, they weren't as motivated. They found it difficult to focus being at home. So, I had to adjust what I did in the room and how I assess their learning to meet, you know, those conditions. I think the best teachers meet the kids where they are anyway. So last year, we were in a weird, you know, context and I had to meet them where they were. So, I would say that I gave up actually this year assigning as many assignments as I used to assign because I found even last year kids still learned and they still grew. I didn't need to check them two or three times a week with a quiz, you know, or some kind of an assessment. I found that if I gave them daily feedback, immediate feedback while we were working in class on a class assignment or a project or a new skill, that worked just as well to keep them growing as them working at home, you know, studying for a quiz and then taking a quiz at the end of the week. In fact, they really liked it better and I am still doing that now. So, for example, I teach my freshmen pre-AP kids how to take notes from a textbook. And I know it's not exciting but they need to have that skill because they're reading, you know, college level text. Anyway, so what we've been doing this year is I've been making them do that first note taking experience in the Cornell Method right in front of me. And I've been [inaudible] broke down the process so that way, I could give them feedback on how to write a summary of what they read. I gave them feedback on what kind of data they put in their notes. I gave them feedback -- each lesson was broken down enough so they got, you know, immediate feedback. And that seemed to erase the hours of grading I would have done prior to the pandemic when I ran through the, you know, instruction and then assigned it to them and said, "OK, so let's just turn it in and see how it goes." And then I'd spent hours reading all these notes for weeks, giving them the feedback that I gave them, you know, one on one, verbally, and in the moment. And they got -- and so far, I haven't had to spend as much time, you know, grading the work because they already learned how to do it, because I spent all that time with them, you know, and giving them feedback.


>> Right. Oh, that's awesome.


>> Yeah.


>> So you kept the feedback part but you just adjusted how you should --


>> Yes.


>> Wow, [inaudible].


>> I wasn't writing it, you know. I was speaking it to them, because I'll tell you what, kids don't read what you put on the paper. I mean, I could spend hours grading and putting all the comments on the paper but they don't read it. All they look for is the grade, right, for example. And if you have a conversation with them, you kill two birds with one stone, two essential birds really with one stone. You get to know them and you get to tell them what they need to do to focus on to get better, right.


>> Yeah. And if there's anything they didn't understand about the feedback, they can actually write them in there. It's like an exchange. That's inspiring to hear. Thank you for that.


>> Oh, you're welcome. Yeah, sure.


>> Thank you. So I think you answered both of the questions in your response, but is there anything else you'd like to share, anything else that stood out to you?


>> I think the other piece that really -- I mean, I've always been the kind of teacher who liked to get to know my children, you know, my students. I found them the -- you know, they are the best part of the job really, right? But I was more intentional last year because I saw them less. And so, I knew I had to spend more time getting to know them more quickly. And also, in order to get them to share things with me about their year that they wouldn't share if they didn't know me that well, right, because we just didn't see each other that often. And I think I have always struggled with trying to find time to balance SEL type activities with my content. And I realized that it doesn't take more time to do SEL. It just takes more attention. So, I need to be more attentive to who's in my room. I don't need to spend hours doing an SEL activity, you know, necessarily. I need to pay attention to who my kids are and what they're doing right then and be able to give them feedback right then, so they know I see them. That's really the biggest battle, you know.


>> Well, that's beautiful. You take so much time and you put in a lot of effort to make sure that all their support, instructional SEL is tailored to their needs. I think that is truly inspiring and --


>> There are lots of people I think doing the same kind of thing. I just think it's -- you know, we get so bogged down, especially in New York state because we have all of these state exams and I think we get bogged down in that content. And I'm not saying that content is not important. For short, kids need to know how to do things and they need to know things. But I think that the pandemic taught me that the focus of the job more now than ever has to be the kids and teaching them how to manage their emotions, how to work with other people, how to collaborate, how to be resilient, you know, how to be flexible. Like, these are key successful skills that makes somebody successful. And so, is it important that they know about ancient Japan? No, not really. But is it important to create lessons about ancient Japan that help them work with their colleagues and learn how to problem solve, and get them to focus on speaking and listening? Yeah. So, I think you can do both. You know what I mean? And I don't think it has to be one or the other.


>> Well, thank you for finding ways to do both. I'm sure your students appreciate it. I'm sure your colleagues appreciate it. I'm sure your students' families appreciate it.


>> Thanks, Jas.


>> So, thanks for all you do and thank you for putting so much thought into how you could apply what you've learned over the last two years to this school year. We really appreciate you and thank you for joining us today.


>> I really appreciate you having me. Thank you so much. It was really -- it's an honor to be with you.


>> Perfect. Thank you.


>> Thank you.


>> It's an honor to be with you too and we look forward to hearing more from you.


>> Well, anytime, you can call me anytime.


>> Perfect. Thank you, Jennifer.


>> Thanks, Jasmine.


>> Thank you for listening to the latest series of Voices from the Classroom, The State Teacher of the Year podcast. This podcast is brought to you by the Council of Chief State School Officers' National Teacher of the Year Program. It's our honor to elevate the voices of educators across the country and provide them with a national platform to amplify their message and advocate on behalf of their students and colleagues. Please, share these lessons on social media with the hashtag #ntoy21. That's hashtag N-T-O-Y 21. Let's keep the conversation going.