Welcome to Classroom Dynamics, a teacher podcast. I'm your host, Adam Todd. Get ready to tap into the power of motivation and innovative teaching strategies. Together, we'll ignite a love for learning in your students, fostering an inclusive environment where every child can thrive. Join us on this transformational adventure that empowers you to unlock your full potential as an educator. This is Classroom Dynamics, where inspiration meets innovation.
Welcome to Classroom Dynamics, the podcast where we explore the innovative changes to technology and education in bite-size form. Hi everybody, I'm your host, Adam Todd and today we have an incredible educational leader to introduce you to, Eric Sheninger. Eric is a renowned educator, speaker and author who has dedicated his career to transforming education and empowering
students and teachers alike. With over 20 years of experience and education, Eric's expertise lies in the integration of technology and digital learning strategies, his goal to create innovative and engaging learning environments. Throughout his career, Eric has held numerous leadership positions, including serving as the principal of New Milford High School in New Jersey, where he spearheaded a dynamic transformation by leveraging technology and implementing a student
centered approach. His efforts at New Milford gained national recognition and led to the school being named a Blue Ribbon School and a digital Promise School of Innovation. But Eric's commitment to educational excellence went way beyond his own school, as he worked with districts across the globe to revolutionize
teaching and learning practices. As a respected international keynote speaker, Eric has inspired educators at conferences and workshops worldwide, sharing his vision for the future of education and providing practical strategies for success. He's also an accomplished author having written several influential books, including Uncommon Learning, creating schools that work for kids and most
recently disruptive thinking. Eric Shenninger's impact on education continues to resonate and we're honored to have him join us here today and it's all coming up right now on classroom dynamics. Calling all educators are you ready to inspire creativity and engagement in your students? Unlock their full potential with content creation. Imagine empowering that with cutting-edge tools like the Blue Sono microphone from Blodgetech, which ensures crystal clear audio quality for impactful projects.
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Promething is here to help streamline your transition back into the classroom with our award-winning active panel that will transform your classroom from this to this. No matter what tools you need to tackle this next school year we've got you covered. Learn more at PrometheonWorld.com. He's an educational leader, a technology advocate and an author. Please welcome Eric Shenigard to classroom dynamics. Welcome to the show. Awesome to be here. Excited to chat. Thank you. I
really do appreciate the time you've taken out for us today. No worries. So I'm really excited to have you on because I've been following you on social media for years now. I mean I think probably ever since you probably started with social media and your message is also so strong and always remain constant and so inspirational to teachers and I think that's what really enhanced my technology you know just the understanding and the purpose. Just can you take us back to
where it all started? What got you in your career? What got you into technology or even just educational leadership? Yeah well that being technology was a traumatic experience but all backtrack in terms of leadership that I'll back to the technology piece. You know when I became a teacher I coach three
sports. I advise the environmental club. You know I really wanted to try to have as much either direct or indirect impact on students and my father was a principal for over 30 years at the same school in New Jersey and I guess in a sense I wanted to make a bigger difference but I also wanted to be like dad and you know after some time in the classroom I pursued my degree in administration and the rest is history. I eventually became an administrator in the New
Millford school district in New Jersey. I served various roles in a brief amount of time. I was athletic director of ice principal and before I know it before I knew I was principal where I wasn't that position for eight years and you know with technology you know at the time I was a little bit younger I was in my 30s. I thought I had it all figured out I really thought the key to being innovative was just having access to the stuff. State-of-the-art computer labs
interactive whiteboards. However there were things that were I no go in my book you know I wrote the policies in my district to block and ban social media. Students were not allowed to bring devices to school very limited use during instructional time and then my traumatic experience was after I got done chasing a student through my school because he broke our cell phone policy and he was so
afraid of me because I was gonna take the device for a year. He thanked me for creating a jail out of what should be a school and that was the first kind of punch and a gut. The other I wouldn't say was a traumatic experience but it was an enlightening experience was shortly after that student laid into me in a respectful way. I got on social media and I swear it would never be on social
media. I got on Twitter in 2009 as a I guess an early adopter and Twitter helped me take the blinders off and really set on a path to A be a better leader for my teachers be be a better principal for my students but see truly create an efficacy based culture where technology was used in a purposeful way to support and enhance what the research told us was already effective and that's where I am
today. Wow I mean that's I think that mirrors a lot of what I've experienced as well in terms of yes you could have that interactive whiteboard you could use those devices but using it to enhance the learning experience I think for the kids and and almost in that 2009 to present day this this gray area that is now starting to change and evolve into something else and become that transition zone between what we used to think and how we used to teach versus all these tools
and all the websites and all the you know bells and whistles that are out there
that teachers and kids now have at their fingertips. Yeah I think you we wrote a very intriguing comments bells and whistles and and that's what we have to cognizant of you know just because students are using technology just because you're using technologies educator it doesn't mean that it is automatically innovative practice you know innovation is new better but actual result that substantiates new and better and you know what I always you know really think
about is you know two things how are learn how are students using technology to learn in ways they couldn't without it and number two if you're an adult how does your use of technology represent a fundamental improvement over what you did in the past without it right and if you can't answer those questions it's okay not to use technology and and I think the key thing is you know yes the adults might use it as a part of really really sound tier one instruction but we want to get
to the point where our learners are using it to create communicate collaborate to you know as a way for them to demonstrate mastering a variety of ways right no I couldn't agree a hundred more than I mean yeah absolutely you said it perfectly let's go back when you were a kid you were talking in your most recent book disruptive thinking which I love the title by the way you grab and hook any fan of technology whether it's a teacher or anyone out there and you talk about
the 1960s animated cartoon the Jetsons and how influential it was to you and especially you know with predictions and just kind of like what the future like an idea of what the future could possibly look like even though it was a cartoon for me it was Star Trek I think it was this and it's the same idea you know the the communicator the the the holographic images the just the doors opening and closing talking to a computer literally like a Siri would so it's those kind of
things that inspire people it's so but with you what's one thing that people may not know about you that influenced your attraction to technology besides that or was that it no that was not it even know the Jetsons actuary predicted zoom meetings tell a doctor visits online classes you know I then you know you saw that but you know you focused on the key here and now you know my focus was on the ATRAC the boom box or 64 the Apple 2e the 64 yeah and you know my first
lip phone my blackberry but I really think and it took me a while to report the register I think what really got me into the benefits and opportunities of technology was mr. south who I also talk about in the book you know mr.
south was my seventh and eighth grade science teacher I went to a K8 school in rural New Jersey and yes there are rural parts of New Jersey everybody and he asked us how will you colonize Mars and the class have to answer that question and he put us in teams he used the cooperative learning jigsaw method where each team was a piece to the puzzle wow the pieces fit together to help us colonize Mars and he let us choose you know we think about choice he was doing choice way back in
the 80s he had us do research to choose an innovative solution that would help the class colonize Mars my partner and I found through our very intense research using the encyclopedia device called the master driver and a master driver was like you mentioned Star Trek it was like a hypothetical space cannon that would be on the moon and would basically propel resources using gravitational forces from the surface of the moon to Mars where we caught on another device
Dan we didn't have to just research we had to build working prototypes we use technology we actually using wires and circuits and batteries we actually throw a research built a working prototype that shot toothpicks then he had assigned permission slips and go to his creepy garage on the weekends which you can't do more and and I say creepy because it was in the middle of nowhere but it was like a technological haven and we built a larger prototype that shot tennis
balls so you think about choice you think about personalization how useful use of technology he then had a five-point rubric for our research paper that we had the right so it took me a while to really put the pieces together that a none of this is new and and that's what really holds educators back when they see a new tool they see it as just another thing they have to do they don't have time you know good teaching is good teaching learning is
learning leadership is leadership right answer your question it really was Mr. South that unintentionally put me on the track to where I am today does he know that have you ever had a chance to actually tell me oh yeah or was just it I dedicated one of my books oh wow nice very nice that's great so I mean obviously you're a great enthusiastic and very energetic communicator you you know really portray through story and just having the opportunity here you
even now and I've heard you before you know this is not the first time I've I've listened to you being able to address audiences around the world and have those experiences talking to hundreds if not thousands of people at times I've done that a couple times at isty I know you have as well is is that what you know doing those kind of big conferences really interacting with an audience is that what it kind of reaffirms the importance of your work and and and your drive to
educational excellence so to speak no that's a tricky question because you know there are some people that their goal is to be onstage and for me that's part of it but I don't want to be seen as the sage on the stage and what I try to do when I get on stage is yeah you want to use brain research you want to touch on a motion you want to get people laugh you want them to maybe shed a tear but I want people to leave not just with hope but a concrete idea on how they can do this and
the one thing that I weave into all of my my my keynotes is that qualitative evidence I'm showing what the pedagogical changes can look like through the lens of teachers of administrators K-12 so yes I love getting on stage and doing that but if I wasn't in classrooms if I wasn't working shoulder to shoulder weekly with teachers administrators coaches I think my message would be pretty substanceless and you know I spend I visit thousands of classrooms every year one
of my non-negotiables for myself is that I have to spend time in classrooms so I have the needed context so I know the challenges that educators are dealing with but then how I can kind of show the importance of feedback loops and how educators they want timely practical specific feedback but to share those successes you know there's no bigger motivator than success success breed success and here's what educators always tell me Eric we know the why we hear it everywhere
every speaker talks about the why we need to know how do we do it and what can it look like so I look at my role as multifaceted and even know I am I cannot say that I am a practitioner because I am not employed by a school or district I make sure that I spend a great deal of time shoulder to shoulder with those people whose stories that I am then fortunate to share when I am on stage I think getting into the trenches and doing that is probably at the forefront of what it's
all about and it actually brings us it's a perfect segue into my next question so you know even with disruptive thinking you encourage educators to be risk takers to try new things and kind of step out of that comfort zone be innovators in their classroom what strategies or advice would you give to teachers who may be a little hesitant to step outside of that comfort you know comfort zone and and adopt that disruptive thinking mindset what what kind of things would would
you give to them as a takeaway that they can actually implement yep and the fiancee question I kind of just wanted to say you mentioned disrupt the thinking and kind of want to define that yes please disrupt the thinking is the ability of our learners to replace conventional ideas with innovative solutions to authentic problems now notice there is no technology it is inferred a technology is one of many ways to be a disruptive thinker but when we think about
disruptive events the pandemic the most disruptive event to ever impact education the other major disruptive event that we will talk about on this podcast because some things we don't want to talk about in terms of challenges that educators are dealing with but technology is it just ruptor think about it six months ago no one knew what chat gbt barred were we knew what art of intelligence was mostly from sky net and terminator however you know now it's
it's here so for educators here's the thing everybody we are naturally afraid to take risks and the idea here is what I can say unequivocally is in education we do not really have true accountability we don't get rid of ineffective teachers and administrators so what I always say is what are you really afraid of if you're doing this for the best interests of kids you could plan the best lesson I remember when I was a teacher I would spend so much time planning what I
thought was the best lesson and it tanked and you know what that becomes an experience that we learn from I think that's happened to everybody at some point right so I think taking the risks with technology is you know let's use backwards design you know think about the goals you're trying to accomplish work back from your learning target which is your unpacked standard or standards think about the high-effect strategies that you will use and then figure out how will
technology allow me to do what I should already be doing better and when I think about risks I don't even think about a risk I always say I think student voice is the catalyst for the purpose of use of technology why because in almost every whole group lesson we are going to use reviewing reviews of prior learning checks for understanding and closure okay technology can allow you to get every student to respond it then gives you as an educator formative
feedback that allows you to then go and either retake or of a confidence that you're moving in the right direction right out that technology it is hard to get that information just understand everybody not there are we take risks every day personally professionally it's part of life I don't look at it as a risk I look at more as an opportunity an opportunity to improve your practice and that last word you just said practice right practice makes perfect we're not you know
trying to mold perfection with the kids we can't do that for ourselves that's for sure so I think practice in in in an educational setting is probably the best place the most safe place you probably could have to take those risks and probably a point perfection you know there is no perfection education is no perfect lesson teacher administrator school district system that perfection does not exist you don't have to be perfect that's what you should strive to be is
the best iteration of yourself for your kids and your colleagues I love that yeah that's that's I'm gonna make that into a poster so in a recent Bet Show interview on YouTube you rightfully asked the question and I love this are we preparing our kids for the new world of work so just that one question should for whoever's listening should open their eyes their ears should pop up their attention should be on that one line because you know when we say everywhere we
now truly mean worldwide and so what skills in your opinion are essential for students to develop in order to thrive in a rapidly evolving landscape of the modern workforce that's starting to go in from that gray area into many colors throughout the world you know the end of the AI even play a role in that does coding play a role in that how does that all come together oh you layered many questions on me somebody respond you know first I want to say that you know our
focus should be don't prepare students for something prepare them for anything because we don't know what the world is going to throw at us that's why disruptive thinking is so important where you know students are replacing conventional ideas with innovative solutions to authentic problems and I'm also gonna now push back and I think the focus on skills is a bit short-sighted here's why you could be skilled at throwing a baseball but only incompetent as
to how to play the game of baseball. Now I'm not saying skills and knowledge are not important they are they are the foundation to build competencies we don't need a skilled workforce necessarily in this world in the knowledge economy we need our learners to be competent we need them to be creative scholars collaborative learners active engages reflective learners you know so in in the book I kind of you know flesh out what competencies really could look like
and in a nutshell competencies take account skills and knowledge but also behavior aptitude mindset so I think those competencies of you know what I try to do is build upon you know we think about critical thinking collaboration communication all you know all those sees but really think about what is it our learners one of those dispositions what are those competencies you know are they able to self-regulate are they able to manage their time are
they able to employ an empathetic lens I mean these things are vital because the knowledge is there and I think the opportunity we have is to help or think about AI so that was the other thing I think I know all the sort of questions you know all the bullet points are there AI is up the game because where Siri Alexa could answer who what where questions we could do searches on Google scholar for peer reviewed research AI answers how and why questions and that
should give us pause to really look at not just the questions we're asking our learners but the tasks and the assessments that we're using it really is now forcing our hands to go to a more project based approach where students have to create something whether as simple as a video audio while they're in class because outside of class they could just do the stuff through AI and get all that information also I think it's an opportunity to have our learners vet what
they see on AI I see trends very repetitive words not really linking to you know evidence or research to support the claims all that it's being pulled from all over the web right AI presents a copyright nightmare because it's pulling that information from somewhere without due credit so I think there's opportunities but also there's some things that we need to be cautious of so are we spending time on going back to skills versus collaboration and every all the other points
that you mentioned are we spending you know is it more of like I don't want to say waste of time but is it more obsolete some of the skills that we're spending time on that we could be spending more practical time on doing something else yeah I mean obsolete tough but if we're being honest many education systems the structure and function was designed for a world that no longer exists it was designed for an industrialized workforce and what do we see mass model all kids
doing the same thing at the same time the same way we now have so much information about how kids learn we all know that does not work it doesn't work for us it doesn't work for learners so I think it's how we begin to transition a little bit and you know I always try to say when I work with teachers and administrators you're still gonna teach you're still gonna do direct instruction but if it's content overload then we're missing the point because
after 15 minutes tops they're gonna zone out so I think it's really looking at how we from those competencies to materialize moving from direct instruction whole group to more personalized experiences and I defined personalization in the book as all learners getting what they need when and where they need it to succeed when you look at the pedagogy behind personalization through most of you know which are blended approaches rotational models choice
activities playlists flip classrooms virtual asynchronous opportunities those naturally begin to build those competencies because you're taking in the knowledge the skills but then you have to show the ability to self-regulate to to collaborate to to manage your time to do it with other people and that's the key thing competencies are inherent on how you interact with others so the interaction of learners with each other is so so important in the teaching
and learning process bottom line 100% I think we're gonna well end on that one but I still have two minutes left with you don't mind all right all right all right all right now it's gonna get hard because we're gonna play a game called input output okay I'm gonna ask you a question just give me the first thing that pops into your mind okay here we go you're ready okay let's do it all right favorite app or website at the top of your bookmarks bar that on your computer that you just can't
live without Pinterest what's more exciting the leap in educational technology over the span of the last five years or the rise of artificial intelligence the last five years why because that's what really got me into this space and really enamored me and I really think that we so we still have so many opportunities inherent on what's been in front of us last five years that we don't want to go chase the next shiny thing that is very true that is very true a lot has
happened over the last five years that I think we're still taking it especially because of COVID and that whole span of time that I think people were trying to figure out wow I never used technology before now I'm being forced to I have to you and they kind of had to teach themselves a little bit or have people like us teach for them best piece of advice anyone ever gave you it was you know my job as a principal was to prepare my assistance to be principals and that really helped
me focus on building leadership capacity not just amongst my administrators but also my teachers favorite ed tech conference that you always look forward to attend and why boy that's tough I think I'd have to say is the just because is the gold standard and you just get across walk people from all of the world who share a common passion so before you mentioned that you try to visit thousand or at least about a thousand or hundreds of classrooms every year what's
your favorite conversation that you've had with a student that you're always going to remember yeah my favorite conversation is when they can really articulate why they're learning what they're learning and how they're going to use it outside of school and such an intriguing conversation you know with a third grader who is really able to zero in on that meaning that authenticity that relevance and just looking at the body language you can just see that they had a
sense of engagement empowerment but more importantly ownership over how they were spending that time my wife's a third great teacher I'm sure she's gonna appreciate that answer if you could go back in time when you were a kid and you know watching those jets in episodes and you were able to give yourself one piece of technology from today what would it be I was gonna I thought I'm gonna ask me advice but I think you know the one piece of technology you know I think
I would have said to not resist the smartphone as long as I did the black berry transformed my behavior in salt cases and I fought it for a long time and I wish I would have started using that sooner which would have put me in the social media space sooner and then I could have been a better principal years earlier than I eventually became wow so you actually think that one marker of time could have enhanced you a little bit yeah yeah wow okay that's a bit of a
space two to three years earlier wow so talk about success success is always good to have but what's one failure you might have had the people may not be aware of when I told my teachers to use technology because the little blue bird started chirping in my ear and then I wrote memos and I sent emails and nothing changed until I grabbed the nontenure teacher and I asked that teacher hey why are you not changing I've given you everything and that teacher looked many eyes at
Eric we're not doing it because you're not doing it I failed because I was not modeling don't do what you have not done or not willing to do yourself that is what I learned from that failure wow that's a great answer finally if you can challenge someone to make one small change in their classroom for the better what would it be yeah I think that the one small change is just make sure you provide clarity you know everything we do doesn't matter if kids don't understand
the purpose of what they're going to learn kids aren't always excited about history ELA math science fizz ed the arts but providing that clarity and going back to the work of Madeline Hunter having a hook and anticipatory set an activity that really gets the kids motivated in the first couple minutes is something that we know works but it's something that we might not always be cognizant of well listen this has really been a lot of fun I truly appreciate your
time that you you took to sit down with us and talk to us today and I just want to thank you again for for joining us my pleasure and everyone you know be sure to check out disruptive thinking in our classrooms available on Amazon and it's full of practical examples from teachers and school systems across the country awesome thank you very much I really this was a lot of fun I actually learned a lot a lot a lot more that you kind of don't you know you got kind of
get in between the lines there so it's kind of cool yeah the more we get different perspectives of our experience yeah we're gonna have to have you on again later another time I really appreciate it well I'd like to take this opportunity to extend a huge thank you to Eric Shenigar for joining us today on classroom dynamics and for taking time out of his busy schedule as an educator an author and a speaker just to sit down with us for a few moments and share his
insights on the integration of technology and education his passion for revolutionizing the classroom experience and harnessing the power of technology to empower both educators and students is truly inspiring on its own and if you've been on the fence on whether or not to do more with technology I hope you becoming inspired to start that process now I'm grateful for the knowledge and wisdom he's imparted leaving all of us with a renewed sense of excitement for
the future of education 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 founded 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 Twitter at class dynamics if you haven't already go to Apple podcast to
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're more powerful and inspirational than you think
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