Beyond the Classroom Ep. 1

Good evening and welcome to Beyond the Classroom on PB.

I'm your host, Joe Pacettid it's a closer to sit down h you this evening.

I've spent over a decade in education as a classroom teacher and administrator t both the building and distt levels.

I'm currently a curriculum supervisor, the Colonial Sl District and most importan, the father of three whose better half is also a veten educator in our home.

We're asking the same questions.

You might be asking about what's best for our kids.

Here's my seven year old reading at an appropriate level.

How much screen time is too much screen time?

How can we structure our ks days at home to ensure that they're learning?

How can I help my six-yeard manage their frustration wh math?

And is 10 years old too yog to start thinking about specializing in an extracurricular activity or sport on this program?

Our goal is to equip paren, guardians and caregivers wh the information and resours they need to make informed decisions about their children's educational experiences both in and oue of the classroom.

Every week we'll engage exs in the field administrator, policymakers, educators, counselors, nonprofit leads and all of those in the ort of our school systems to bg you strategies for everythg from reading fluency to numerical literacy, social emotional development to college readiness and transitioning into kindergn to demystifying educational acronyms.

At the end of each show yol walk away with resources ad strategy generated from our conversations with guests.

You can access them at or beyond the classroom resoue PBS39.org beyond the classm or at Facebook.

.Com backslash PBS39 as the proverb goes, it takes a village to raise a child.

We hope you'll consider our program a part of your vil.

Let's get started.

Let's meet our guests for s evening.

Over here we have Erika Simmons.

Erika Simmons is a school counselor in the Allentown School District.

She is a proud member of te Mustang Nation at Sheridan Elementary.

She's been there for 14 yes and she is a magnificent resource for mindfulness aa whole bunch of other things that we'll be talking about this evening.

Next to her joining us this evening is Josh Deetz.

Josh is a first grade teacr in the East Penn School District.

He's currently wearing a Superman tie and I like Ba.

So that's a bit of a probl.

Well, maybe not it.

We'll see.

We'll see how it goes.

Josh is an excellent educar who's been at ESPN for quie some time.

He also earned his master's degree in education leaderp from Lehigh University, whe he's also a doctoral stude.

And joining us virtually or here on the big screen, wee Adam smoker Adam is a elementary principal and te Quakertown Communiy School District.

He's joining us from a classroom in Trumbauersvile Elementary.

Adam has been an educationr longer than I've been aliv.

I believe.

Correct, Adam?

Pretty close.

Pretty close.

Pretty close.

So thank you for joining us tonight, Adam.

We really appreciate and tk you to all of our guests.

So Erika, if it's OK, I wod like to start off our quess with you if that's OK.

So our topic for this eveng is going to be anxiety, st, transitioning back into scs at the time of filming, wee already had students and af our buildings, I believe fa week.

Is that correct?

OK, so in that week we've probably seen some behavio.

We've probably seen some is coping both in the classrom and outside of it.

What are some of the issueu see coming up in this first week of school?

Thanks, Joe.

What we're noticing, I thik not only just in the Allenn school district but in in districts across the valles the increased anxiety that students are experiencing t returning to the buildings.

Some separation anxiety may students have been spendina lot of time with their fams and separation anxiety on e part of the parents as wel, having a difficult time sag goodbye to their children n drop them off in the morni.

I'm also hearing a lot of students experiencing grie, whether that be the loss oa family member or a loss ofe friendships that they had d before.

And things are really different.

The loss of the previous sl year.

And also I think children e absorbing a lot of just the stress from the adults arod them.

You know, we're all going through so much and I thine students are really experiencing that and takig that on and causing a litte bit of concern.

And finally, I think the uncertainty of what's to ce is causing a lot of anxietr for our kids.

That's what I've been hear.

Yeah.

Josh, is that been the casr your first graders as well?

Yeah, I would completely ae with Erica.

So we as a first grade tea, I typically have kindergarn or kindergarten kids who ae coming to me but have had a full year of kindergarten e learned how to be school students and we just havent had that many of them were remote.

This is their first time in school.

Many of them were in a different classroom settin.

So they weren' with the sae kids that we had in my schl district.

We were doing hybrid.

But then we also had a fuly virtual setting.

So they just don't know hoo be school students yet.

So it's that unreadiness te in the learning environment that's makes it a little me tricky and just something e have to go over again and p them through it.

But even just on Thursday,e had a two hour delay.

We had because of the hurre coming through.

So two hours more that thes got to spend with their pas and I noticed we had more students who had a difficut time transitioning becausey just thought like, oh, we'e home again.

And I know it's we're backn school and it's just goingo take some time for get useo that.

Thank you, Josh and Adam.

I would imagine that you aa principal have seen kind oe broader spectrum of this, right?

Because you're getting a building level view and I believe you have kindergarn through fifth grade in your building.

Is that correct?

In great.

In what ways have you seent difficulty on your end?

Well, like Josh was saying, some of the transitions oft getting back into the rhyts of school, you know, we knw the job principal is more n just managing the building.

However, managing and havia smoothly operating school community is really importt important work, which is te teaching learning.

So we're just having to mae sure that as we come back o the school year, we are heg students feel comfortable o feel supported, to feel a t of the school community and also to have a manage throh the routines of the day.

As Josh said, for some of r younger students and even r our students, quite honest, in your grade that have ben a different city than sendg excuse me than a traditionl school day, it's really an adjustment to get everybody back up and running.

And we're just trying to te our time and do that slowld appropriately.

Lots of supports so that wn really have the students fs and grow as they were.

Excellent.

So I have two children.

All of you here know that better school age.

And one of the things thatI struggle with even being in schools is what questions I ask of an administrator ofa teacher, of a school counsr where I don't feel like I'm overstepping my bounds.

What exactly am I supposedo be asking that you can poit to?

Here are some routines youn practice at home or here se homework assistance that yu can provide without doing e homework for them.

That kind thing or in termf services, you know, if I'm feeling stressed at home wI come back as a student, wht are some things that I cano to help cope with that?

Erica, do you have any inpn that?

Sure, yeah.

I think that we do have tod of go back to the basics, remembering establishing te routines in the home bedti, maybe a story before bed if they're a little bit older, maybe just kind of asking u about their day keeping tht routine.

And I would say for all ag, OK, through 12, that routie and that that's it's very comforting to have that paf your day that you can expes very comforting.

So even when things are uncertain around us, it can really help to know those y simple routines getting a d night's sleep, making suret you have some physical acty that really helps trying tt healthy.

Those are important things.

And then there's all kindsI think great ways to kind of deal with that stress whent comes up.

For example, if your childs coming home and saying, I a terrible day, I hate schoo, your gut might be to say yu don't mean that.

Don't say that because we t want to hear our children y that.

We don't want to see our children suffering in any .

However, I think it's a rey important life skill to bee to teach our kids, take the opportunity to teach our ks how to cope with these difficult times.

And that is listening realy just listening and being te and acknowledging that allf us are feeling these diffet things and it's OK to feel those things, but it's howe deal with them that reallys important.

So lots of different things letting letting a younger d maybe draw out their feeli, maybe having someone journa little bit if they're a lie bit older, if that's sometg they like to do, maybe havg like a little worry box.

That's something that I'vee with some of my students me drawing a picture of their worry or writing about ther worry and putting it in tht worry box and even like hag that as part of your daily routine, was there some kif worry or some kind of stres that you had today that wed to talk about and just you don't have to fix?

You know, I'm a mom.

I have two kids and I, I fl like I want to fix that.

You know, you want to just clean that up and put that aside.

It's fixed.

But we can't always do tha.

And that's true for all ofe using Barack.

That is such a simple thin, but it's so powerful.

There's research, mindfulns practice about just takinga big breath in for five cous and then letting that breah out for five counts is a really, really powerful something we all can just u implement any of those strategies in the classroo.

Tons of them.

And Erica was as you were naming off things, I was thinking like, oh, there'so many things.

The first thing I want to , I think you hit the nail oe head with don't be afraid o show your kids how you deal with things because the ki, especially our youngest ki, we are these perfect adult.

You are the teacher.

You do this.

You are the parent.

You do.

There's nothing you do wro.

So showing no, we make miss too.

We have struggles throughot our day and this is how I l with them.

I don't just go cry in the corner.

I don't just ignore it.

I make the most that and Il with that.

Now we do have we have copg strategies as well.

And when I'm in the classr, any time I make a mistake d of course my kids are quico point it out.

But when I make a mistake,y mistake and I try to adjuse best I can.

I apologize if it's somethg that I did wrong and I move forward with it and that'sw I go from there.

Yeah.

Adam, is there like a systc way to kind of do that?

I'm sorry I didn't want top on you.

I know you want to say something.

Go ahead.

No, that's OK. Well, it was just you know, it's an important conversan and I appreciate the questn there.

As a parent, you know thatu are expressing you know, ye sharing a little bit of concern, a little bit of nervousness about your children's education.

And that's completely norm.

You know, we and I recognie this is a principal.

We have such a responsibil.

We take the students, theye to us, they Gary Day you dt see them for, you know, somewhat seven hours and tn they come back to you.

And it's kind of a mysteryf what's happening inside tht black box in school.

So I would say the first tg is just reach out to us, please.

Like that's the most import thing with the school, I tk is the community and think, Eric, we mentioned his schl counselors, certainly Josh Siegel classroom teacher mf was a principal.

If you're a parent or guarn or a family member, you're responsible kids and you're wondering about something.

Contact us, pick up the ph, call us, send us an email,t reach out so we can talk tu and that's just only goingo help.

That increased partnerships going to help us and you ad everybody involved in that child's life to support th.

So don't be afraid of when that's the one thing that I always struggle with.

Right.

And again, we're all in the field of education.

I just always struggle with whether or not I'm oversteg circumstances.

Now we're transitioning bas remarkably difficult.

So I'll ask this question o let's say that you call yor building Adam and I'm interested now.

I'm a parent that in the pt has volunteered very often.

I'm very active in the PTO.

I'm very interested in getg involved to reading in classrooms with kids, maybe being an aide.

How does that look now?

And is that something that schools and I understand yr school is just one of many.

Right.

And we have many different districts.

But is that something thata possibility this year?

What might that look like f I'm willing to Chapman?

Well, sure.

I think that gets back to probably the theme of, you know, everything in recent years has been flexibility.

Right.

So we have to plan for ourt case scenario and then adjt as the situation.

You know, makes that makess tough to adjust.

So certainly there may be limitation or lack of abily to come into a building.

But I think one thing the school closures are relateo the pandemic showed us certainly it showed us thar building is to rethink whae mean by engagement becauset everybody has the same opportunity during the dayo come in and participate ine building.

Not everybody has the same opportunity to be lucky tok first just to be able to ce to parent conferences in te evening or so.

We have to work to be flexe there and to create opportunities to engage the families, the community mes and maybe you can volunteen person.

Certainly that's our goal o have as much in-person schl as possible both for the students and for the volunteers.

But also there are many wan which you can support the f not asynchronously outsidef the typical school to help.

So I would just again say h out to the teachers, reacht to the school principal, ls know what you're thinking t and let's try to work for y to to come together.

Like you said in your open, you know, it takes a villa.

So we're here for the Tata.

You mentioned parent teachr conferences we this year because we couldn't have, I should say, last year becae we couldn't have parents ce into the building.

We opened it up virtual for Zoom and we had such greatr participation than in any r passed because we were ablo reach people where they we.

We had parents who work sed shift who just took a quick break, put it up on their e and we're able to zoom wit.

We had parents who were dropping their kids off at soccer practice and we're e to phone in and have a part conversation with that as l as we struggle with sometia parent just doesn't have ae to watch the kids.

They have to bring all thes in.

And it's tricky there.

They're watching the kids e they're trying to to discu.

So Zoom just gave a compley different outlook, a diffet way for to happen.

And you know, as awful as a pandemic has been for certn things, there are things tt have come out of it that he helped us to kind of move forward.

And I think that flexibili, Adam, that you mentioned is super important.

So that is a big thing thaI think is often overlooked.

Right.

And we have this discussion a daily basis.

But what has gone right.

Right.

What are they and am I goio say that everything is a sr lining right in this situa?

It certainly isn't.

But what are some of the ts that have gone really well?

What are the things that he been successful with kids t we might not have seen prio the pandemic Langhorne?

I think there is one thingI could just because what Era said earlier focused on Ese social and emotional learng both for the students and e adults.

You know, that's unfortunay I think an overlooked somes thinking that school has te academic and it's not a zeo sum game.

We can certainly have high level academics for our students, even our youngest students, while also havina real focus on supporting te social emotional learning.

I know for us one of the mn goals actually goal numbere on our district goals thisr is a social emotional lear.

And just to be able to have that weaved into the schooy and beyond in the classroo, beyond the classroom is a really great positive out f this situation.

And I think it's really important for us as educats to be focusing on school because I think that mental health is our next pandemi.

You know, I've been sayingt I really see the mental heh needs of our students realy increasing so and teacherse the front lines, the teachs are seeing these students t in their classrooms for lie you were saying, for a long amount of time.

And so it's really importat that the teachers are in te to those things and able to address those needs.

Yeah, I think it definitely highlighted for teachers, especially just how importt those connections are.

We don't want to be robotid this should come to school.

You learn and you go away.

That's it.

I mean, we had to make thoe connections and especiallyn March of 2020 when everythg happened and we were just completely disconnected.

It was that reaching out fm someone or connecting witha family just saying, hey, ae you OK?

You know, I'm so glad you'e here.

Let's get through this togr and that just reminded us t that's going to be the most important thing that those Maslow's hierarchy of needs students have to feel safe.

They have to feel wanted.

They have to feel cared abt in order to learn.

And I think while we definy struggled with that last yr just due to the learning format, it reminded us thas the most important thing.

And that's what we need toe forward with now, Josh, in terms of academics.

So let's shift the focus fm which I agree has been a he win for everybody.

And I think longitudinallys going to be really helpfulr all of our kids that that's critically important when t comes to academics.

How can I help support at ?

So if my son is coming homn homework that I'm strugglig with and he's getting frustrated because again, s is going back to school fom and it's going back to schl for a lot of folks out the, what exactly can I do to hp him without doing stuff for him?

And how can I help manage y frustration with doing tha?

Right.

Yeah, I mean, I think Adamt the hit the nail on the hed first by just saying communicate.

Never be afraid to reach oo a teacher and say, hey, I't exactly sure what this is because we will gladly help with that.

We're not going to laugh or anything like that.

We're definitely there to p you listen.

Kind of like be aware of wt your child is learning.

I think that was somethingt was really prevalent last r because parents had to do e work with them.

So just be aware of what yr child is learning and thatn help them to continue movig forward.

If they're if you see theye working on math, understand that math concept a little more, maybe look into it yourself or again, reach oo the teacher and just help m through that and then givem other ways to do stuff.

So if I send home a math p, all right, maybe they're struggling with that math paper.

Can you as a parent maybe t find a couple manipulativeo into your drawer and pullet six spoons?

All right.

Lay them out, help them moe one to one correspondence, those kind of things.

So just finding those other tools and I know it can be really tricky.

You see your kid strugglin.

They're getting frustrated.

They can't do it.

And you just want to pick p the paper and write a six r them.

But just take a breath.

Remember that sometimes the most important thing from t homework or that work at he is just writing this.

It's not that they cut the answer, it's that they're getting the motor skills fr that.

Don't be afraid to give thm breaks.

Don't be afraid to say, he, let's take a break right n. Let's go off.

Let's do something else.

It's going our mind off of.

Come back to a later.

And honestly, don't be afrd to reach out to the teached just say, hey, we tried ths last night.

They got super frustrated.

We didn't get a chance to finish it.

I'm sorry about that.

We will gladly reach out.

We will understand and we l help in any way possible.

I've talked to many parents over the years, not just ar the pandemic where homework became such a stress.

You know, parents saying they're spending too hours sitting at the table and working at these problems.

I don't think any teacher t I've ever worked with wants that for a student.

So if it's becoming that mh of a struggle that much ofa problem, reach out to the teacher or even your team.

You know, there's a there' most of the time a child sy team more like an intervenn team and perhaps there cane some accommodations made fr adapting homework or, you , maybe working a little bith that child.

So it's never hopeless situation.

There's always resources ad there's always people.

Your counselor is always a great line.

The counselors on on all of those teams.

But the teacher can also hk you up with those things, .

But don't don't make homew.

Be a crying huge.

It's not worth that.

It's homework.

So in terms of a takeaway,e of the big things that I wt to kind of hone in on for h of ♪us because we're cominm different backgrounds, we'e all elementary in terms of focus.

What is it if you were to e just one blank sheet of ad, one piece of advice, ratheo a parent, to a caregiver at what they can do beyond the classroom, outside of to hp support their child, and it could be something that for those of us that have chil, the one thing that we would want for them also what ist thing?

What does that piece of ad, Adam Boyertown Fleetwood ak questions of your kid, of r child's inexperience experience?

Not not closed questions wh right or wrong answers, not peppering them with questis about, you know, what happd here, who went there, but t look into and ask questions about what they're really experiencing as positives n the day, what we're struggs for them and let them guide where you go and be there r them as much as you can.

And every week and read a .

You know that from the preo the oldest, just sit down d read a book, talk about a k that is the best thing.

Well, one of the best thins beyond the classroom well beyond the walls of the classroom and just in the classroom with like that is always great for kids.

You didn't have to recite e title of the show, though.

I appreciate that.

That was that was a nice p. I appreciate it.

What is your favorite bookt him?

If you were to read the ki, what is the thing that youd when you go into classroom?

I depends on depends on the and but one of my all time favorite is wordless pictue books.

I think they get overlookeo many times.

Adults try to think we have story for kids and we try o read something to them.

But we find some wordless picture books.

I think they are one of the great openings for the oner of kids minds.

Atami I have a pet in my classroom that's a cactus d his name is Spike Lee.

Used to have a mustache, monocle and until we realid it was killing him.

But anyway he writes noteso the kids and he watches ovr the classroom all kinds of stuff and I had him read ak to our class during.

What were your home for Cod and it was a wordless picte book and I just had it andI had my hand the bottom of e camera and just kind of sly paged and he just stood the the whole time.

But the kids loved it and y got so creative with the ts going beyond that.

Then they made some videos where their stuffed animale doing in just it just fostr that creativity.

So no, I agree completely h that.

And the figures that I alws remind myself of just let o and be able to laugh a lot.

Also ask yourself most importantly, but also juste finding joy in those small things and doing that at he is critically important.

Right.

Erica Bionicle, what is itt they what what's the advicu give them?

I think just really take te time even if it's just twor three minutes to really lin to your child and hear thed really try to hear them.

Don't speak for them.

Don't fill in those blank spaces.

Let them say the words in e way that they want to say t and allow for uncomfortable feelings.

That's a huge life skill ad help teach see those uncomfortable times as opportunities to learn thoe critical critical skills of coping and it takes practie and model it.

And it's not always going e beautiful.

It's not always going to go well and that's OK.

But I think that listeningd truly, truly listening, sig down with listening with yr heart, listening with your head, really important.

That's excellent.

What is the one goal that u have for your students this year?

I keep hitting you at these off questions.

My apologies.

That's right