[Listen Again] Episode 8: Kyair & Katie Talk REAL Teacher Talk!

Melissa and I are really thrilled and honored to have Kier and Katie with us from Baltimore City Public Schools , and we'd love for them to just share a little bit about themselves , what they teach , where they're teaching and anything else interesting that they would like to share with us as we dive into their stories about how they launched Witton Wisdom this past

school year . So year one implementation in Baltimore City for this podcast . So , kier , would you mind jumping in ?

I teach sixth grade literacy and language arts . This is our first year of implementation with Witton Wisdom , so that is over and it's pretty kind of cool to look at the data and the results of what the kids have been able to do this year .

So I've been posting a lot on Twitter and other social media , just sort of bragging about how awesome my kids are and how great their student work is , and it's been a really fruitful year . I would say that I'm excited about where the district is going and where Waverly is going , and I'm really excited to improve .

I actually just finished my sixth year of teaching here in Baltimore City and I feel like we are getting better in my soul . So thanks for having me .

Last year was year one of implementing wit and wisdom and I'm looking forward to year two , just because year one felt a little just and we'll talk about it more , but it was definitely a challenge . It was a growth year for me and I'm excited to take off and running with year two . Again , I've been teaching for 14 years .

I did some early childhood , I've done a lot of work in special education and I was also an instructional coach for a few years .

I'm happy to be back in the classroom and to be implementing this curriculum and thank you so much for having us talk about this , because I think it's really important to spread what works , what doesn't work and some of our success stories with other people in the district and beyond . So thank you ?

So I'm just wondering , like , what your initial reactions were when you heard about wit and wisdom , when you first looked at it maybe the first professional development , just what all around , like before you even taught it , what were you guys thinking ?

But when I looked through the manual I was like man , this is really deep . There's a lot in each lesson and I was pretty unsure about how it was going to be differentiated . I thought it looked like a pretty good curriculum for my GAL students , but was unsure of how it would work for my lower students .

I didn't think I would be able to differentiate well enough for them and that I was going to have to customize lessons or make up my own lessons for my low students . And I also was concerned about guided reading .

I was pretty adamant that I still needed to make time for guided reading every day and I didn't know where I was going to be able to fit those in the lessons . So those were my initial thoughts .

About my students who are not reading at on grade level ? How am I going to change this or customize it ? We hear it all . I hear it all day . I'm sure Melissa hears it too . Can you tell us a little bit more about how , when you said make up or customize lessons , did you end up doing that ?

And just tell us a little bit more about that I did not end up doing that .

When I'm talking to teachers about this , when we do our fellowship , that really to me , is the beauty of the program , that it's integrated instruction and everything is really there for you . The planning then , and what I had to understand was that the planning is more about how I'm going to scaffold each lesson to meet the need of every learner .

So differentiation is in place and I did not have to make up anything on my own .

I will say the only thing that I had to do a little bit differently , since I teach fourth grade , so for my students who were still not decoding and still had some phonics skills , I did in the small group time , I did supplement words their way , just in small group time , to help them with their word reading and phonics .

And that was outside of the 90 minute wisdom block . And in the 90 minute wisdom block , those students who were below grade level in reading did not have different texts .

They all had access to the same text that all my students did and I think that was very important in this and making them feel like they had access to the same knowledge to all the other students in my class did . They just needed different supports in order to gain that access to the text .

Rather , about wit and wisdom , I you know again , if we're gonna engage in some vulnerable Conversation and some honest sort of real talk , if you will , I was really concerned about what wit and wisdom meant for by black students . So I teach at Waverly . We're a title one school .

The majority of the kids that I teach are black students and I recall going to do the wit and wisdom website and you know looking at some videos , you know sort of reading the blogs and I just don't recall An urban district like Baltimore being talked about . I don't remember seeing a lot of videos with majority black classrooms .

I don't recall , you know , research where A majority of the students were performing below grade level and in some cases well below grade level .

So my initial skepticism was , while the city school's curriculum wasn't , you know , all that good , for some reason it was a little more palatable , if you will , or digestible in terms of scaffolds , ways to to customize and make it more appropriate . So there was some honestly resistance . I did engage in some really good professional development .

Um , her name is Rachel Rooney and she actually ended up curating the uh text sets and the book lists for wit and wisdom and she's got a pretty senior position with great minds .

So what I realized now is really great professional development with a facilitator who cares deeply for the participants in the room and believes in the program can do a lot to help change your mindset

. And I realized that , while I was well within my right to have those thoughts because they're mine and you know what I have to say matters because I matter that it was I needed to give the program a chance .

So I had to check myself and I had a moment of sort of come to Jesus moment that some of us have in our lives , usually not with curriculum , but that's what I had mine with . And my come to Jesus moment was really this , and it was twofold right , it was Kier either you don't believe in your students or you don't believe in yourself .

And the reason I say that is because you know , the more that I studied wit and wisdom , the more that I realized it was about building equity . And I'm thinking , kier , that's how you sort of built your entire teaching career is you teach for equity , leveling the playing field , giving black kids an opportunity .

So if you're saying that they can't do this rigorous curriculum or this program , what are you saying about your kids that you know , you say , are very important to you , which they are ? Or there's this sort of second hand where it's like , am I just unwilling or am I unable ?

And I refuse to believe that I'm Unwilling , because I like learning , I like digging deep and I want to get better , always like I've not peaked , I've not reached my Best yet . I still want to get better . And then there's these . So then , are you just unable ?

And that's where Professional development comes in , where it takes a really good facilitator as well as a shift in mindset . Right , like when wisdom to me is not a have to , it is a get to . We get to implement a , an equity based curriculum . I know people talk about how it's a knowledge building curriculum and it's , you know , content , culturally .

All of that is true . But , as you know , dr Santolizas says how can ? We can't do both . And it is knowledge building , it is content , rich , culturally relevant uh , you know text . It is that . And it's also an equity building curriculum because it goes so deep with knowledge building and leveling the playing field .

So I learned all of that after I had to check myself , you know , change my mindset and engage in some professional development with a facilitator who was absolutely amazing and that really started to chip away at that initial Um hesitancy .

And then the last thing I'll say is when you start seeing what your kids can do , as opposed to sort of you know wallowing , if you will sort of in the shallows of what they can't do or what their perceived deficits are , you will be wildly amazed , and I would even say humbled , that you even were initially resistant because they Took the curriculum and my kids

did so well with it and the products of their labor are kind of amazing and breathtaking .

So I'm just really thankful that you guys are able to be honest about the initial reactions , because I think sometimes when People see teachers who have all this success , it's like , well , you know they , they were on board from the beginning , they they what you know kind of Brush it off a little bit and they have .

They might not know that you have these same first reactions , so it's really nice to hear that you know you had those same hesitancies and skepticism . That's at the beginning . Um , just so people know , yeah , but it's real , it is real . Um .

I'm wondering if either of you have any stories or can remember maybe that the first moment when you saw your students kind of doing , when you really said like doing something that you maybe thought that they couldn't do or wouldn't be able to do Um , do you have any recollections of that over the course of this first year ?

But what I found really interesting was like I became far I don't know more learned it , if you will um and cultured thanks to wit and wisdom because , uh , they , first of all , the program where the curriculum uses aren't as a visual text , so it's another means of exposing students to rich , relevant texts .

In module zero there Is a piece of artwork I believe it's the sleeping gypsy for grade six to eight and I kind of thought to myself I mean , how exactly is a piece of art gonna help build knowledge , you know , for kids who aren't really exposed to art , you know , I mean , it's sort of like all of these cliches about those kids this , these kids that , and

then art , right , and I'm again I'm having to check myself and I'm kind of like a little trepidatious . But here we go and we start analyzing this art and I'm like , wait a second , I can teach so many skills through looking at this piece of art .

First of all , when Katie's talking about how do I scaffold for my lowest students , uh , like , just being blunt . If your eyes work and your brain is interested in the art , then you have access to it . So , first of all , it is a gypsy who's sleeping with a lion . That's like coming up to her and my kids were just instantly captivated .

A Really amazing color palette and I give all of this background to sort of no pun intended paint a picture of how I know I'm a la teacher . So I got a lot more . Uh , just yeah , I mean , it was a stroke of genius , if you will , and I don't want you to brush that aside , and I will stop there at three because that's too many .

But the kids were really excited about Deepening their understanding of art and color and whether or not it was night or day , based on a literal Understanding of what was going on . So that's the organized stage what's happening ? And I didn't think I could spend as much time on a piece of art asking a very simple question what is happening in this visual text ?

And we spent so much time on it . And then I'm able to go back and we set up a class debate you know , are you team morning or are you team nighttime ? And we had kids go up to the board and pointing and using text evidence right by pointing at oh well , I can see the shadow .

And when you start realizing that they were inadvertently using art terms , you're just like you know what ? I'm gonna go sit down somewhere because they are totally rocking and killing this and I Did not think that we could . So let me put myself in time out and I'll see you guys in five minutes .

She quoted you , I do not in a and In like a meeting , and she said , like Katie Scottie said , you just have to put it in front of them and get out of their way , and I don't know if you remember saying that , but I said exactly what Kiers is talking about , right , like getting out of their way , letting them do the hard work and and struggle through it

, and they're they're coming out on the other side with these incredible you know analyzations and interpretations and Any you know things that we wouldn't have expected . So , katie , would you mind Sharing anything that you want to add on to what kike Kier said ? And Kier , thank you . That was . I love that .

That was like an incredible story from the , from module zero , like the first week yes , first week .

Um , but Just to connect to kier real quick , I did a launch last week and I told the participants that when I first knew that there was artwork in this curriculum , I was like , okay , I don't have time for that , I'll , I'll , I'll give that to the art teacher , I'll let her look at the artwork with the kids and she can do that .

But , similar to kier , I just want to just point out that when the kids do this artwork , it's like they're the most silent they ever are when they're staring at that screen and artwork .

And it is a dense text . It is deep . There's a ton of really um , difficult academic vocabulary words in that text and when I looked at that text it was like okay , how am I going to break this down for them ? Um , but what happened was we were discussing the literal great heart and they were having a discussion about how the heart worked .

And then we moved on to the figurative great heart and talking about Love and compassion and what it means to have that heart and what are the characteristics of a person with a great heart . And it was like the end of the day one day and one of my kids said god , this day was so long . This was it's probably the worst day of school ever .

And another kid looked at him and said that's definitely figurative language and Like that it's not the worst day of her life . Come on , that's a hyperbole and like , and they kind of went back and forth with like , talking about what , what the difference between literal and figurative language was and the connections that they were making to the text .

In that conversation I was like , well , my kids know this stuff and they're talking about it outside of an academic conversation . Um , and then from then on I will just say what I , what sold me on the curriculum and what I think made my kids buy in and I'll talk about this over and over again is the level of engagement in text .

And so when in that , in that module , when we read love that dog , I mean my students were crying , like literally crying , when things happened in that text and they were so into it , every day them being like I cannot wait to see what happens next .

Yeah , so just starting off with yes , I'm seeing them make connections , like with literal and figurative language . I'm hearing them talk about the text outside of class and then I'm every day them coming in and not being able to wait to see what happens next in the text .

That's when I was like I feel like my students are successful , not because I , at that point I was still wasn't sure about like the academic growth and what their writing was going to look like . But at that point I was like , okay , they're invested , they're yeah , and their mindset is that they want to come to school every day and they want to learn .

So I was like , if I have them , if I've hooked them , then academically I know that they're going to be able to make gains because their mindset is right , yeah . So that's when I was like , okay , this is going to be able to work .

Once he said , katie , I went around and I I went to some of my your students that I knew were your struggling readers , just because I want to make sure that they got the attention and recognition that they deserve , and he said I can't believe . He said I didn't .

I , if I , if I weren't , if I weren't the principal , I wouldn't have known who was your struggling reader and who wasn't , because they were all talking about and just as passionate as the other kids about the knowledge that they gained in this module .

So I would say yes , all my students were really excited about the text and the topics and we're all participating in these Discussions where oftentimes in the hallway I'd be like you need to be quiet and I would come up to them and they were talking about love , that dog , oh . So I would say yes , that's for all of my students .

I was chatting on notes and you know I think one of the things that you both noted is that you took this learner mindset and we're willing to grab all of the information that you could in order to Execute this with equity for your students .

But I also jotted down that you had this self-awareness right , so you knew to check yourself , you knew to to look at your students and to see , like observe them and to see what they were learning , and I think that that really helped you both to build buy-in .

And tell me , you know , correct me if I'm wrong , but I'm just making inferences from what you were saying as you were speaking . And I think that you , you both , very clearly have this inherent belief that students can do right , like students can do what we put in front of them .

So I just thought that was so powerful and I just want to make a quick connection to the TNTP findings from the opportunity myth .

Those those four key points , because I think that you , you both , really exemplify those right that you , you believe students learn best when they experience these four things so great appropriate assignments , deep engagement , high expectations and Strong instruction

. Requiring students to do the work . So requiring them to do the thinking , for them to do the work . And you know , I think what you're highlighting is the . The outcome of that is where you're both standing today . So I mean , just thank you and Kiar , I loved hearing you talk as you were , as you were sharing that , about the I'm packing of module zero .

I was like he is such an old soul . I love that . Yeah , that was great . And , katie , thank you for your aha moments in like drawing yourself to the students .

So I just I was making notes about how we could just , you know , recap this for for folks who are listening , who are heading into their first year , and teachers who are heading into their first year and they're thinking , no , I'm not sure . And I thank you for your , for your deep honesty on this topic , because I think it's so important .

Like Melissa said , we have to talk about this in order to move forward , mm-hmm . So thank you .

But I had a student at the beginning of the year in a circle , when we were talking about our strengths and our growth areas , who said All right , I think I'm a better reader , I got better at reading in third grade , but please just don't make me write a lot like I don't want to write , I'm not , I'm not a writer .

She just looked at me and said I'm not a writer and I was like in my head again I'm just like I really don't know if this curriculum is going to teach her , if it's gonna , if she's gonna feel the success , and I really so badly wanted her to identify as a writer and then again fast forward to I think it was like module two .

She was doing a focusing question task and I saw her with her book in one hand and a pencil in the other and she was just started on her own . She just started writing and I went up to her and checked in and I said looks like you're off to a good start .

And she just looked at me and shrugged literally and said Turns out , writing isn't that hard , you just have to know what you're writing about .

module and she had felt like she . She felt like an expert on the topic and she was an expert on the topic and I think that's where I saw the most growth in the writing .

And again , I'll speak a lot to the mindset , but her confidence was that much greater by the end of module one that she then was identifying as a writer and not worrying about can I write ? She , she wasn't her styles and conventions .

Maybe they weren't the best yet either , her spelling probably wasn't the best , but she didn't have any hesitancy in putting that pencil to the paper and just going . And that's where I saw the most growth their ideas getting out on paper and their ability to express knowledge through writing .

But just giving them that time and you really do see over time their growth . And it doesn't . It's not going to happen right away , and that's what I try to tell teachers a lot . You're not going to see it immediately , but over time you're going to see their confidence grow and you will see that academically as well in the end .

What I did appreciate , like Katie was saying about wisdom , however , is that it's integrated , so it's not like stop , drop and write , you know sort of thing that there's , that it's integrated in and it's seamless .

So what I found was that when we're able to know a lot about a topic , when we're able to speak on a topic , students are then able to write about the topic .

So the idea that we spend a lot of time building the background knowledge and building content knowledge because something stuck with me and a PD once and it was not a good PD and the facilitator kind of offended me because she was saying well , you know some of these kids you know in Baltimore , well , you just know that they're never going to do X , y or Z .

And it was a really offensive comment because I was like , well , I just don't know how anyone would ever know that I didn't know that you were sort of this , a omniscient character sent here to teach me your , your , your ways , and the reason why I rubbed the wrong way is because there was this our kids can't , and here's my thing even if some of our

students may not and I don't want to say that they won't but even if they may not have this opportunity , the curriculum gives them the opportunity . So there's so much background building and knowledge building that you're able to confidently , like Katie said , write about the topic right . So now we've leveled the playing field as far as experience .

So when we're talking about resiliency and the Great Depression or the hero's journey and how that applies to different film or media , you might not have seen all the movies out there , that kind of follow this cliche like hero's journey trope , but the curriculum will help you understand that journey . So I saw pretty clear results

. I mean one of my sort of like teacher anecdotes .

I've got a student , you know , and she had an IP and her mother tells me she said , you know , and I'll just call her Amia , but she said , you know , mr K M has a mild case of cerebral palsy , you know , and last year , you know , I would have to do some of the writing for her and she would just tell me her ideas and I would literally just put on

the paper whatever in told me to put and we had our first focus in question task . That was only honestly supposed to be a paragraph , at best maybe half a page . For some of my kids , you know , nothing more than that is honestly the expectation . M wrote three pages front and back and wanted to take the assignment home overnight .

She did all of the writing herself and her mom just kind of came to me in tears , you know , because she's like I've never seen him want to write this much . I've never seen her feel this confident to do the writing herself .

And stories like that to me prove that if you , if there's a will , then there's a way , right like it just finds a way to get done .

So I'm excited that you know teachers like Katie and myself have been able to sort of harness this excitement and leverage it with , honestly , the idea that kids want to learn , they want to be great , and we know that if we can put those two together plus the idea that we know and expect that you can be great from the teacher side of things , they're going

to do pretty amazing things . You just got to give them the space and a little bit of you know belief goes a long way and I've just really enjoyed hearing those stories and seeing those stories .

So thank you , katie , for a highlighting that student and just shout out to him because that's kind of a lot of struggle that she's had to go through for in her life to get to this point as a pretty strong writer .

I mean , I know there's so much research on it , but just from your perspective in being involved in it , teaching it every day , maybe just also share a recap of what an integrated approach is and also to share , like , why it works for you as teachers in fourth grade and sixth grade implementing this curriculum ?

So in the past , in an isolated approach , students were doing like isolated grammar worksheets or they're right , doing a writing prompt that didn't have to do with the text at all . So that would speak to my students saying I never knew what to write about . They were doing a prompt that was isolated , without that background knowledge .

But in previous podcasts , melissa and I have talked about how we are very embarrassed that as teachers , back in the day what Melissa like , 15 years ago , we had students to advert worksheet Right An isolation , and they knew like all I have to do is find the word and then add these letters and be done with it and it was not helpful or connected .

One thing that I do tell people , though , all the time , is just the importance of sharing this research , because I think when teachers do that and still use the isolated approach , teachers are not doing that out of ill intent , right , teachers are doing that because that is what they think is the best practice , and we have all implemented practices in the past

that we thought were the best for our students . Yep , so just the importance of sharing the most current research and talking about it and highlighting where it works and why it works .

If I go to a PD and I know what we're doing and why we're doing it and what we're going to get out of it , I'm more invested .

So when students come to class and they know that they're going to be reading certain chapters and responding to those chapters and having a discussion or a debate , everything is centered around the same thing and they I just feel like understanding the purpose gives them more motivation . Yeah , absolutely .

Then they're then able to make those connections too with each other , with the text to the world . They're making a lot of connections and I think enhances their motivation .

Yes , you're trying to figure out how to pull the rope back in to get them back in the conversation without hurting anybody's feelings .

They're taking on the ownership , which makes them feel like it's not as boring because they're doing it on their own . They're really the ones doing the heavy lifting .

What I really appreciated as a teacher is , in general , I just happen to like things that make sense . I'm like , oh okay , well , that's pretty linear , it's logical , it makes sense to me .

If there's some really difficult words , as Katie was saying , for the circulatory system , there's a lot of what we'd call a tier three academic vocabulary that de-contextualize can be really tough for students .

But then you realize , if I can put this word in context , we can practice myriad skills Context , clues , inferencing , you can even go back to word roots , but you're building it all in the context of the story which they already feel confident with because so much knowledge has been built .

Further again , you've got equity being built in the classroom because I feel like maybe , depending on the demographics of the school , maybe somebody's parent is a doctor so they've got more exposure to maybe some of these words or that type of book , but when everyone is getting sort of the same text and a lot of the same learning as far as the skills that are

being taught . Students just feel really comfortable that there's no expectation that I needed to come to you with something because I feel that it's also lost , that as teachers we can't complain . Or we've heard complaints where it's like I need this , I need this .

Well , look , we signed up for a job willingly or at least I did and it's our job , regardless of resources , to teach students where they're at , and this curriculum provides a lot of the resources and the stuff for us .

So my thing is if we believe the research , that knowledge building is important for students and that the research is true and that we believe it , then a lot of teachers are like oh , that makes sense . I'm totally on board with Witten Wisdom .

The disconnect then is but you then also need to be integrated in your belief that you , as the teacher , also need to put your head down and sort of put on the elbow grease and do the hard work of immersing yourself in understanding the curriculum . When you do that , you are then wait for it knowledge building yourself . You're gonna feel way more confident .

So I can't underscore KB's point enough , though , about what the research says . My thing about the teaching profession is I think that we need to sort of carry ourselves like doctors , doctors and other sort of professionals where the prestige is still there .

I feel like some of the prestige is rubbed off on teaching a little bit and it's not where it used to be , or maybe in my mind it should be . But doctors go to conferences and they're getting up-to-date medical information , right .

I mean , if you are out of step by a year , five years or whatever , you are old school , this is past knowledge and you're not gonna be current to be a doctor anymore . And that same mindset has to be applied , like Katie said , when the newest research comes out .

We have to make it a point to understand what the research says , but also why that new research is important , like I don't think anybody's going to fall to teacher , like you were saying right that this is how it was done 15 years ago , but now that we've got new current research , that says knowledge building and equity is good in the classroom , and these are

the results . More teachers need to understand that research so that we can keep current with the practices . That's what other professionals do . We have to do the same thing . Yes , there's a bit of a rant and I'm sorry .

Yeah , foundationally , that's one of the reasons we were like we need to bring light to this research , but we also need to connect it to what's currently happening in this curriculum that we can create , build that buy-in for teachers and leaders and coaches and everybody so that they can see things have changed . And why are we doing things the old way ?

And I mean , the world has changed . So if we're really preparing students for college and career and the world beyond pay 12 education , then we have to change our mindsets and shift there . And in a previous podcast , melissa and I did talk about that .

We were like , in just this 15 years that we've been teaching or in education , things have shifted so much so we can't imagine what it would be for a teacher who is 30 years into their career , has been doing things quote unquote this way for so long , and then this curriculum comes in and it's like , oh my gosh , this is just completely different and it

challenges my belief system . It challenges what I've been doing for three decades and now I'm being asked to do something completely different . That is a huge undertaking and that really requires that learner mindset , that productive struggle we're trying to instill in our students , but it's really understanding the why , like you both highlighted .

So thank you for that .

But Katie mentioned right at the beginning too that this was the first year and it was a challenging year . So I was wondering if we could dig in a little bit there .

I know you guys have been totally honest , so I'm being able to be honest too about what was challenging about this first year and maybe something you're looking forward to doing differently or just in it having a second shot at it in your second year .

And in that , as you know , baltimore City kind of adopted a little bit late and our ability to get it off the ground and running was a little slower than I think what a lot of people wanted . So I don't think I necessarily had internalized .

Moet Wisdom talks a lot about the difference between planning and internalizing and I think in the beginning I was really just planning day to day .

So I was looking at a lesson and I was kind of writing down the key things I had to get to and I was teaching it and I wasn't looking forward to the end of that focusing question arc or the end of module task and I wasn't really seeing how everything connected . I was doing everything day by day .

I didn't understand how everything was going to fit together in the end . I didn't get it and I didn't understand how everything was related . In fact I didn't fully understand this actually until my third module . So fourth grade is a great heart , then it's extreme settings and then it's revolutionary war .

And in the third quarter one of my students said to me Mascotti , you understand that the revolutionary war module is just like a combination of great heart and extreme settings , because these students , the people , had to provide in an extreme setting and the Americans really had to have a great heart to overcome all these challenges . Oh my god .

And I was like , oh , so that's why they picked those in this order . So I just think , now that I see these connections and what it all builds to , and how all the knowledge and all the content is connected together , that's really going to help in my planning .

So now , instead of doing that day to day planning , I really am going to be able to be more intentional about what I'm doing every day for my students , because now I'm not at the micro level , I'm more at the overall , looking at the whole year and able to purposely plan , and I also just think that , having a year under .

One thing I will say about my leader that I really appreciate and I hope that more leaders in Baltimore do this is that he said at the end of the year there is no way that I should change a person , a teacher's , grade level after only one year , one of wisdom .

I'm going and knowing what is happening and the purpose behind it all and I think that will just enhance my instruction even more .

I've got to make sure that classroom management is a thing , otherwise , if there's no management , there's no learning .

So I wanted to also then make sure with wit and wisdom , like you really need to understand what's going on in a particular module , because if you don't understand what they're supposed to get out of a module or a lesson , then there's really honestly won't be any learning and in a way you'll still be teaching in isolation Because , as Katie said , you're planning

and you haven't internalized the what , why , how , so that you are able to make connections or students like Katie's can make that connection on their own . So a big challenge for me was really understanding and internalizing .

And I think that what I'm excited about much like my second year of teaching , was I felt sort of like a new person , there's almost like a new terminator , so to speak . Like I came in and I was like oh my gosh , what a good feeling . I'm faster , better , stronger or whatever those words were right .

And yeah , I don't know , just your second year of teaching . I'm unsure if you guys recall or it had the same feeling , but I just felt so much smarter . You had one year under your belt . There were some things that you just knew . Oh OK , I can cut this and spout the bone on that , like this is awesome . I just felt invincible that second year .

Now I still struggle , but I just felt better than my first year .

All that to say that I'm excited to take all of my learning this year my annotations , my highs , my lows , student feedback that I have , like my notes and reflections , lesson plans and PowerPoints and be like , ok , this is how we're really going to sort of ramp it up and just make it better .

And I think that that's the big thing right , because the research also says that when you make wholesale changes to a curriculum , it ultimately ends up taking three to five years for the dust to settle and the results to really be seen right , that the first year scores might be stagnant or even regress or dip , all that and then you slowly start to see it

uptick . The issue or the caveat that I make is that it can't be teacher leaders , coaches , teachers , the district , it can't be pockets of people . So the importance is understanding that we have to all get to a point where , as I've said before , this is it . We have no other choice but to succeed .

So I want to acknowledge that all teachers want their kids to do well . I really believe all teachers in Baltimore City want their kids to do well . So if we take that as a truth , then that means that we have to do the work to get to that truth .

And wit and wisdom is our truth for the foreseeable future , which means we need to internalize and we need to do the work to understand what the curriculum is asking of us and what it's demanding of students and we can just get that , so we can get to this truth that I just mentioned .

We're honestly going to be in a really good spot as a district , but it can't be pockets of schools or teachers or teacher leaders , and it's got to be everybody .

And really , I think at the beginning of when I started doing this fellowship , I said step one is mindset , and if teachers don't have the mindset , if the students don't have the mindset , it's not going to work . So I think that's really important .

Would you mind just giving a quick recap about what you spoke about on stage with David , and we will tag him in this podcast so that we can hopefully get it shared on his page . David , if you're listening , please share this , yeah .

And what I appreciate is he was talking about look , he's been around for a while , he's helped create curricula , he's been around for the Common Core implementation and some of the standards and that development and vertical alignment or progression .

So through all of this expertise , it's understanding that Witten Wisdom is the best program that's out there in terms of vertical alignment , integration of skills , deepening of content and concepts in addition to being text-based and also Common Core standards aligned .

So when districts are looking at , well , but it doesn't check this box , it does , it does and I appreciate that they've recognized that ECE . Our folks in Early Childhood Education need a little extra help .

So they've come out with geodes for K to two so that there are decodable readers that go along with the content of what they're reading but also are able to build in the vocabulary . So if leaders are able to structure instructional time , you can still do tenants , if you will , of guided reading .

So that's a little bit of a digression , but I appreciate that .

David talked a lot about the history of curriculum and education and the importance of Witten Wisdom not failing in Baltimore , because there are , kind of honestly , other districts that are just waiting , honestly , to see if a pretty black district can succeed with it , if a district with some students who are below or far below grade level can do well .

And that's why I think that it's important for us A to give ourselves some grace and to understand that this is a long runway and that we're not exactly expecting the plane to take off and be a cruising altitude after a year , that we do need a long runway to get to our destination . Not a bad metaphor , I'll take it .

Yeah , and then as far as things that I talked about , it's what I said at the top of the podcast . I was just very real about who I thought Witten Wisdom was for . I thought it belonged in sort of Howard or Montgomery County and not necessarily in Baltimore City

. But I think that what was important for me to get across to teachers was this you're allowed to be in your feelings and you're allowed to have negative thoughts , but not at the expense of student success . Because , again , I think that you really want your kids to do well . That's probably why you're this passionate and maybe even angry .

But I want you to check those feelings and be mentally and physically present today , as I was saying in the keynote , to understand that Witten Wisdom is our present and it is our future . So we need to commit to committing and also make sure that we can do well ourselves with immersing ourselves and understanding , asking questions .

And step one was showing up at the Institute to get all of this great knowledge so that you feel better prepared come August . Right , you've got the opportunity , do it . Someone's helping you with the exposure . Expose yourself and learn more about the curriculum .

And finally , just leaving off on a high note that I talked about was all teachers are also capable of greatness . Right , it just takes a little bit of a push and then , all of a sudden , our potential turns into something magically beautiful and kinetic and we are doing the work .

But that initial push is the buy-in , it's the mindset , it's the being present for the PD .

And I heard people say there's no research behind this right Because it's new , so no one's proven that it's done yet , and personally I don't know if you guys agree , but I'm just really proud of our district that we didn't step back and say it's not for our kids and say , well , we'll wait and let someone else be the people that try it first , and we stepped

up and said no , this is based on research . There are really great things in here that our kids deserve and we need to just jump in , and so I'm really thankful that that was the message that you guys sent that day .

So you are both amazing and we're so lucky to have talked with you today .

So I think we get caught up in the day to day , the planning , what I have to do next , how am I going to get this all in one day , all the questions , all the insecurities but just let the process happen and watch your kids fall in love with the texts and do that with them and be excited with them and be in the moment .

I have a really hard time being in the moment . I pay planner , as you all know , and I really just want everything to . I'm always thinking about the next step . In this year , I had to really learn to . I just watched my kids fall in love with reading and I tried to be more present with them when they were in love with the texts .

That's when as I spoke before that , when everything clicked for me , and then everything in wisdom is so based on the texts that if you allow your students to be that engaged in the text and be that excited , all the pieces will fall into place from there .

That would be my advice Read the texts , get excited about the texts and then watch them fall in love and fall in love with them and be as passionate as they are , and that passion will be contagious for the students , for other teachers at your school and for other people in the district as well .

I will just succinctly say my advice is this believe that your kids can . Your kids will ultimately show you what they can do . If you believe that they can , they will do and ultimately they will surprise you , amaze you and humble you , because you decided to make a conscious choice to believe that they can , because they really truly can .

The wisdom motto , or great minds motto , is that every child is capable of greatness . If you can buy into that which is , I'm sure , why a lot of us do the work or what we hope that our kids can do you're going to be just fine with the program itself If you're not afraid to take on the work .

That's the expectation , that's well within your job responsibilities . Just believe that your kids can . They'll show you what they can do .

If you are believing that your kids can do that , then everything that they're doing is adding to that bucket of you're adding a chip in the bucket like , yes , they can do this , yes , they can do this .

Rather than looking for what they can't do and focusing on that , you're doing exactly what we're doing here today , talking to you as we're bringing to the surface the successes and building on those . It's just this cycle of highlighting the success and that cycle of that confirmation bias that they can do . That is incredible .

I also wanted to ask you both if you could just quickly share where we can find you , because I know people are going to be listening to this podcast and they're going to be like we need to follow them on Twitter , we need to find them on social media . So could you share where we can find you after this podcast ? We can all stalk you after this .