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>> 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 used 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.or. That's N-T-O-Y.org.

>> So this is Carolyn Phenicie, Press Secretary at CCSSO. Welcome, Maureen, and thank you for joining us today. To start, could you please introduce yourself?

>> Absolutely. Thanks so much for having me here today. I am Maureen Stove and I am the 2020 Burroughs Wellcome Fund North Carolina Teacher of the Year and a 2021 National Teacher of the Year finalist.

>> So, we know that so much about education has had to change in the past couple of years with COVID. But what is one practice, strategy, concept, or ideology you are keeping for the '21-'22 year?

>> One of the things I'm really going to keep is the intentional practice of doing social-emotional learning with my students. So, as teachers, we always knew that social-emotional learning was really one of the key things that we did to help our students in developing not only academically, but also as people. And when we went into the pandemic, we realized how incredibly important it is to establish routines that help us develop that social-emotional learning. And so, one of the things that I was able to do in the remote learning environment was to really embrace different strategies for reaching out and connecting with my students in unique ways, and to really get to know them. And so now, as I've transitioned into a virtual teaching position with the North Carolina Virtual Public School, I have really embraced that. And I've looked for ways to continue engaging with my students and developing those relationships in an authentic way while in a virtual environment.

>> So, what does that look like in the virtual environment?

>> So, what that really looks like is a couple of things. First of all, I've embedded practices where students will have an opportunity to, at the beginning of class, engage in some way. So sometimes it will be like a, "Give me a thumbs up if you're having a good day." It could also be something where I'll ask them a question or ask them to respond to a Google Forum or in some other format to let me know something that's going on that they're really excited about, something outside of school where they are having a great opportunity, or maybe they're on a sports team and they did really well in a meet or at a game. And they're able to connect that way, not only with me but also with their classmates. But it also means being available to my students so that when they need support or they need help with something, I am there to be with them. We know that relationships are really the key to developing that social-emotional learning and so, one of the things that I've been very intentional about is finding ways to connect with my students outside of just the curricular area. And so, I'm looking for opportunities to get to know them as a person. So I'm asking them questions about what are some of your hobbies? What are the things that you like to do outside of school? Are you on a sports team? Do you do scouts? Are you involved in your youth group or in some kind of community service group? And so, by asking those questions and getting to know my students and then being there for them and showing up to those things. So being the teacher that comes to a soccer game, or being the teacher who's at the finish line when they finish at the cross country meet, or being a teacher who was at their Science Olympiad competition. That helps our students know that we are their advocates and that we're there for them not only for the time they're assigned to us for the academic period, but we're really there to be their support for them in everything they're doing in their life and to be an adult who they can trust and turn to when they need help with something.

>> That's great. I think people usually think of social-emotional learning as more of like a pre-K, kindergarten, early elementary type of thing, but you teach pretty high level high school science. Why is it important to kind of keep that going as kids age?

>> So, I think it's important for us to look at social-emotional learning for everyone. So whether we're talking about our pre K-12 kids or whether we're talking about our kids that are somewhere in college or moving into industry or in the military or even for us, as teachers and other adults in our community, we all should be focusing on social-emotional learning. But I think for our high school-aged students in particular, it's very, very important to have social-emotional learning that is authentically embedded into the curriculum because those students, a lot of times, are dealing with a lot of challenges and a lot of trauma. And there's a lot changing for them. So they're transitioning from being a child into growing into an adult. And that adolescence period can be very turbulent for them and it can be very difficult to navigate. And so, by having social-emotional learning that's authentically embedded into our curriculum, it enables us to help our students navigate those challenges. And it helps us give them the tools so that as they leave our pre K-12 classrooms, they are empowered to live their best life because they're not only academically prepared but they're also emotionally prepared. And that's a really important piece of being successful. There's quite a few studies that have indicated that you are actually -- a better predictor of your success in life is your emotional intelligence versus your IQ. And I think that's something that we really need to focus on in high school because we have the opportunity to help prepare our students to have that emotional intelligence as they leave our classrooms, so that when they deal with a situation or they encounter a conversation or they're in a room or a space where they are uncomfortable or they are unsure themselves or they're meeting some type of conflict, they've already established the tools that they need to successfully navigate that challenge and to come out of it on the other side in a really good place.

>> So even as you're, you know, keeping in all this social-emotional learning, is there something that you're getting rid of, just it isn't working?

>> One of the things I'm definitely getting rid of is the expectation that everything will always happen on time and that everything will always happen in like a very linear fashion. So, you know, previously, we would have due dates, we would have lesson plans that were designed for students to finish things by a specific day or specific time. And what I've realized is that learning is really much more of a fluid environment. So, we're constantly learning different students need different amount of time. And so, what I'm really going to -- one of the things I'm really going to throw away is the expectation that every kid will be in the exact same place at the exact same time, and to really help my students figure out how to move forward. And one of the ways I'm doing that is through a lot of data assessment, through a lot of formative assessment, to see where my students have mastery of their skills. And also to see where my students maybe have some gaps so that I'm able to design instruction both for my students that I'm trying to push forward and give them new learning opportunities, but also to design that instruction for my students who maybe need a little bit of remediation or one-on-one intervention in order to help them be ready and be successful as they exit my class and move on to the next class they're going into. And so I think the idea that instead of looking at it's something I'm getting rid of, I think I'd rather look at it's something that I'm really embracing. And that's truly personalizing instruction and making instruction that is designed for each one of my students and each one of their unique learning needs. And really meeting their diversity in a way that embraces them and really looks at what their strengths and their weaknesses and helps them be as successful as they can possibly be in the coursework in my class.

>> Great. To wrap up, is there some particular great moments that you've had so far this year that you'd like to share?

>> So, I did actually have a really great moment. So, because North Carolina is one of the states that actually gives a sabbatical to their Teacher of the Year, and I found out after the school year had ended that I was named the Teacher of the Year, I didn't actually have a chance to say goodbye to my kids. And that was really tough emotionally for me because I wanted to go back in and, you know, celebrate with them. Because the reason why I was able to be a Teacher of the Year is because I teach really amazing kids and so, I wanted to go in and be there with them and say goodbye to them. And unfortunately, with the pandemic, that just did not work out. And so, I was actually at Target a couple of weeks ago and one of the students who was a senior that I did not have a chance to say goodbye to, she was a phenomenal student and really loved doing coding. But she kind of felt like maybe coding would be too difficult for her when she got into college. And so she originally went in as a business major. And when I ran into her at Target the other day, I was talking to her, asking her how she's doing. And she said, "I have to thank you too." She's like, "Because I got to do coding in your class and I really believed in myself," she's like, "At first when I got to school, I was a business major but this semester, I switched to computer science and I'm going to be a computer science major." And that for me is like that's the moment, right, when you get to be a tiny piece of a kid's success story that's incredible. And to be able to see her and run into her and hear that news was really just amazing. And so that's been one of those moments where I'm like, "OK, everything that we did during the pandemic to continue making those connections and stay with our kids and continue giving them opportunities to learn and explore and designing learning around what works best for kids, all of that is worth it 100%. Because then you have kids who you're able to give them the keys to their success and to help them experience things in high school that then lead them into what they want to be as an adult." And so that was a really rewarding experience for me.

>> That's wonderful. I think that is a great note to leave it on. Thank you so much for joining us.

>> Thank you.

>> 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 #N-T-O-Y-2-1. Let's keep the conversation going.