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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 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. Welcome everyone. This is Sarah Brown Wessling and I am here talking with Wyatt Oroke who is the 2021 Maryland State Teacher of the Year. Wyatt, it's so glad to have you here.

>> Happy to be here. Thanks for having me.

>> Oh, of course. So, can you start by just giving us a little bit of context about where you teach, what you teach? If you want to tell us how long you've been at it, you can.

>> Yeah. So I teach at City Springs Elementary/Middle School in Baltimore City. I've been teaching in Baltimore for the past nine years and I teach seventh and eighth grade English, which I've also taught for the past nine years here in East Baltimore.

>> Wonderful. So, what I just would love people to have this wonderful visual image of as they're listening is what I am getting to see right now, which is your classroom behind you, and above you, and around you. And everywhere your students look, they see their future with flags and diplomas and letters to themselves. It's a really cool space and just a really important space for students to manifest their best selves in.

>> Yeah. I mean, I love -- if I'm going to spend most of my day in this space, I better love it. And if I'm going to ask scholars to come into this space and spend most of their day here too, they better love it too. So, I try to ensure they see themselves and like you said their future within this space. I view it as an incredibly sacred space for us to have community in and so, I love being here. They love being here. So, it's pretty cool.

>> Absolutely. Learningspaces are sacred spaces. There's no doubt about that. No doubt about that. Well, we are going to jump in this conversation and just do a little reflecting and thinking about what it's like to be teaching at this point in the pandemic, right? So, we're kind of in school year number three, you know, a little bit into the beginning of this particular school year. And I am really curious, when you think back to what you've learned and probably all the things that you've tried, what are you going to hang on to? What are you going to keep as you keep moving forward?

>> So, digital literacy, I know that seems like an easy answer and I hate to say it, but that has been the biggest area of growth for myself and scholars as we think of preparing them for the 21st century and jobs that will await them. As eighth graders, right, that could be four to eight years from now. We needed to build digital literacy and we had a massive gap in that area within Baltimore City and within our school community. And so, using digital tools and digital platforms to ensure that they know how to access them, collaborate on them, use these tools as learning opportunities has been incredibly helpful and it has allowed all of our scholars to stay connected. We have had scholars that have had to enter quarantine because of COVID concern and those scholars are still able to engage in the learning environment. Be it a little bit differently, but by keeping them engaged for longer periods of time, we think it's going to help their academic growth throughout this year.

>> Absolutely. So, have there been shifts that you've seen, not just in their use of technology but you're using this really specific phrase digital literacy. So, have you seen shifts in their literacies as it applies to the digital world?

>> Yeah. We definitely see them able to access learning tools in a wide variety of ways. And in doing so, understand how to manipulate things in a way that makes sense for their learning. We know these tools, an iPad is a great way to differentiate instruction. But it only works if the scholar understands how it works, right? So, if a scholar has this device in their hand and they have no idea how to use it then it's pointless. And so, what we've tried to build is how do you access these tools in really cool and creative ways. And that includes some of our English language learners that are newer to our school community, how can we allow them to still access high level grade level content in a way that they're able to use the resources that are in their hand? Our school is a one-to-one device school now and that's with iPads. Scholars have iPads all day lon and we've downloaded strategic and specific apps onto those iPads. And they're getting better at navigating those apps. And we're also teaching them skills of time management and how to focus in class, and how to, no, you can't watch that YouTube video right now because we're actually reading and so like that is -- and while it might be frustrating for a teacher, like that's a skill, right, that you have to teach young people, is how do you prioritize, how do you put first things first, and how do you focus? Because we know when they enter more independent learning sites like college, right, they need to know how to be able to focus their time. So, we're ideally teaching them these college and career ready skills now.

>> Yeah. I love the way that you're talking about the things that oftentimes can be frustrations for teachers. I can also say that as a parent, right? These things that can be frustrations are opportunities, right? Because it really is, the whole thing is a skill in understanding how our brains work, understanding how we learn to focus, how we learn to pull back, how we learn to prioritize. All of those things are really, really important. And equipping students with those skills like you said, I mean, it gets them ready for the future, for sure.

>> Yeah. And I think if all behavior is learned behavior and you haven't taught them how to do it, why would you expect any other result? I've been working with a lot of new teachers this year. Our middle school team is primarily first year teachers and they obviously have expressed some frustrations around behaviors they are seeing.

>> Yeah.

>> And we have to walk through with them. Well, what did you teach the scholar to do at that time because they might not have known? Even in how we like were -- today, we looked at how folks are setting up their worksheets, like how are scholars supposed to engage with this digital worksheet? And the directions weren't clear. It didn't say where the scholar is supposed to put their response. And then, they got all mad when the scholar put an emoji next to the response.

>> Right.

>> They didn't tell them not to put the emoji smiley face and so they did. Right? And so, teaching them those skills is critical.

>> Yeah, absolutely. So, let's kind of flip this just a little bit. So, you have been talking about what you're going to hang on to, what you would keep. I am equally, maybe even more curious about what you're going to let go of as you as you continue on.

>> I think when I -- well, several things. When I was working in the digital space last year, we were 100% virtual and I was so focused on not losing any academic growth. And I had such a hard time thinking about social-emotional learning and collaborative learning in that space. I had a really hard time thinking about what that could look like.

>> Yeah.

>> And when we reentered school communities this year in person, that has been prioritized in their mind or in my mind. And trying to find ways for scholars to just connect and engage with each other in a healthy and safe way is something that was missing for the past year and a half easily.

>> Yeah.

>> And so, even like we take mask breaks. We have a nice little field outside and we go outside for like 10 minutes. And we just walk around the track and we talk and we chat, and we just have a nice relaxing time. And yesterday we had a kickball tournament right outside. And they just loved it. They hadn't played with their friends like in an organized and structured way like that in a year and a half.

>> Right.

>> And so, I think that piece, which is something I knew before I entered virtual world and then forgot about for a year and a half. I was like, "Oh, yeah. Kids just need to like talk to each other because that's what kids need to do."

>> Yeah.

>> It has been something that -- I need to push away that mindset of academic only and refocus --

>> Yeah.

>> -- on the whole child in this time.

>> Yeah. So, I think that's really interesting because I do think a lot of times when we as teachers find ourselves in these different spaces or new spaces. The pressure of things like pacing and covering content, those things become so important. I'm really curious about how you wrestled with that and especially kind of how you recognized that you were ready for a change. Like as a teacher, how did you make the shift from where you were last year to where you are right now, like celebrating the 10 minutes that you get to walk around the track and the importance of the kickball game?

>> You know, I think for me, it was in talking with the scholars, right, they'll lead the way.

>> Yeah. They will.

>> [Inaudible] They always do. And it was maybe day two and we were to -- week two, I'm sorry. Week two, we're doing an assessment and because of the assessment, we couldn't take our mask break that we normally would take outside. And it had a devastating impact on the climate and culture. It was scholars were getting frustrated, they were getting mad, they were struggling with engaging with one another. They want to take their masks off. Like all of the behaviors started to pop up. I was like, "Right, that's because we didn't take our 10 minutes." And even though many of them weren't able to express that at the time, when we're able to have a conversation about it, a circle at the end of the day about it, that's what we were able to pinpoint. Right? Our routine changed and a routine that no longer put our social emotional needs first changed.

>> Right.

>> And so, that signaled to me, don't ever do that again.

>> Yeah, and haven't we all been there?

>> We'll have to pause that test.

>> Yeah.

>> And that's when it signaled for me was just based on them, what they were able to express both verbally and then in their behaviors, led the way to me saying, "Something's got to give."

>> Absolutely. Well, how wonderful for you to, first of all, be able to recognize it for more than just the behavior. There was something underneath the behavior and I think that's really important. And then, to create a space in which you can talk about it together as a class, so that you can do exactly what you've already been talking about which is, you know, thinking about these behaviors and thinking about this process. And kind of like the cause and effect of all of these things, and how it is then that our students and our children, your scholars are able to self-actualize because they can own all of those things.

>> I think that is, as you talked about, that's the thing you teach, right? That's the thing you have to teach is --

>> Yeah. That's the thing you teach.

>> -- walking our young people through that realization of why things occurred.

>> Yeah.

>> That's not a skill that anyone, including a 12 or 13 year old naturally has.

>> Yeah.

>> And so, creating spaces to kind of walk through why did that happen, what led to that? I think it's helpful for them as they build their own emotional intelligence.

>> Yeah, without a doubt. Wyatt, what a pleasure to spend a little bit of time with you, to get a peek into your classroom, to get your wisdom. We are certainly excited to be able to share all of this with teachers everywhere. I know that they're going to learn a lot.

>> Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

>> 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 21. Let's keep the conversation going.