On this episode of the Innovative Schools podcast, we're talking to Megan Didi and Kara Rigsby from Integrated about transforming education through integrated teaching. Come on. Let's learn together. Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Innovative Schools podcast.
Jordan Bassett:I'm Jordan, your host for this episode. And today, we are talking with Megan Dee and Kara Rigsby from Integrated. Hi. Welcome to the podcast.
Megan Diede:Hey. Thanks for having us.
Kara Rigsby:Thank you. Yes.
Jordan Bassett:I'm really excited about this. I'm I was looking over all things about, you know, integrated teaching and your, pathways to learning and all that stuff. I'm I'm really interested, about that whole topic. But before we get into those specifics, can each of you say a little bit about kind of what you've done in education and what you're doing now, kinda how you got to those places?
Megan Diede:Yeah. Definitely. Education, we've both been teaching for fifteen years, and we're currently in third grade teaching away.
Jordan Bassett:Mhmm.
Megan Diede:It kind of started by happenstance, honestly. How integrated kinda was born and how it got started. It was January.
Jordan Bassett:That is not a date.
Megan Diede:It's a teacher's joke.
Jordan Bassett:It's the
Megan Diede:longest month of the year.
Jordan Bassett:It's like
Kara Rigsby:it's like the Monday.
Jordan Bassett:I guess I just showed my cards a little bit.
Megan Diede:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody else was still laughing. And it was it was that time that I was teaching that I just I needed something different to happen.
Megan Diede:I needed somebody to talk to, someone to to just kinda converse with an education. And I happened to ask Kara if she would like to start running. Running? I don't know. It seemed like something that you
Jordan Bassett:would want to Like outside? Run.
Megan Diede:Yes. Like run.
Jordan Bassett:And you're from Wyoming. Correct. Okay.
Megan Diede:Yes. So we actually run inside.
Jordan Bassett:Okay. Much better than that. Through
Megan Diede:through of all of that together we started talking about education and our classrooms and how things were becoming frustrating and we wanted more and what could we do and really what came about that is just how can we instruct students a little bit differently. Mhmm.
Kara Rigsby:And it was at that time we, you know, in our careers we were in years five or six at that time, and it was the point where we knew something had to be different because if something wasn't going to change, it was we were gonna leave. And we didn't really feel that leaving was, you know, the the right decision to make. So instead we're like, okay, well how can we make it better? Not just for us as educators but we're struggling because our students were struggling. Yeah.
Kara Rigsby:So how can we make it better for our students? But also as educators we're like, we don't want another thing. Like we don't want another to be put on our Yeah.
Jordan Bassett:There's so much that we already have
Megan Diede:to be So many plates. Boxes
Jordan Bassett:to check.
Megan Diede:So many plates to hold.
Kara Rigsby:Yeah. We're already spinning so many plates. So we were thinking just how can we think about what we're doing maybe a little bit differently, but yet drastically change students educational experience.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah. I I I love that especially as as a dad of a second grader.
Megan Diede:Mhmm.
Jordan Bassett:Like to hear teachers that kinda got to this place where you're like, you know, this is tough and challenging. But instead of fleeing and running Right. You guys went head on into it and said, how how can we change this to really help our students?
Megan Diede:Right. Right. And we we wanted it to be better in our classrooms for ourselves. Yeah. And in turn make it better for them.
Megan Diede:Mhmm. And so together we kind of just developed this new way of thinking in our classroom.
Jordan Bassett:Mhmm. Yeah. That's great. And that that's that's basically what we're gonna be talking about is that kind of new way of of thinking. So, what just so integrated in the 50 foot view Yes.
Jordan Bassett:What do you guys do?
Megan Diede:It's a good question. That is
Kara Rigsby:a good question.
Megan Diede:We, we teach.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah? Yeah. Yeah.
Megan Diede:In a integrated has become something more than just integrating content together. It's become it's become integrating, socially. It's become integrating, different pieces of your lives together. It's teamwork. It's instructing your kids in a different way.
Megan Diede:It's just we we help educators find a way to help their students grow with differentiation, student engagement, and it's all while doing this making it easier for our students to learn and for us to teach. So we've come up with an integrated framework that kind of helps guide teachers on how to put all of that together using the resources that they already have, as well as how to instruct our students differently so that they can learn those those skills that they need to keep going.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah. So what was some of the challenges, kind of in a specific sense, what were some of the the challenges and things that you saw in your students or maybe not challenges, but I guess I don't know how to phrase this quite correctly but I imagine there was something, some either a specific scenario or generally what you're seeing in your students of maybe they weren't meeting test scores or they, you know, struggles. Like what was it that you saw specifically that made you say, Hey, there's got to be a different way for us to do this?
Megan Diede:Yeah, absolutely.
Kara Rigsby:I remember I was a first grade teacher at the time and I had brought all my kids to the front and we were going be going through an ELA lesson. And I had prepped, had all the resources, I had done all of the things and they came to the front. We're ready to get started. And I look out at their faces. And I just remember thinking, have two kids that are truly like with me right now.
Kara Rigsby:I have three in the back that are completely, they're not necessarily being behaviors, but they're not mentally engaged with what we're talking about right I have four more off to the side who are struggling, you know, before we even start. And so I just kept sitting there thinking that with all of the training and the resources, my students were plateauing in their test scores and they were not engaged. Even after everything that I had been given and told to do, I was realizing that there has to be something different or there has to be something more that we could do to help with the student engagement and therefore help with the student growth. Because as a first grade teacher, I'm thinking we have to be able to engage these students in a better way. There has to be a better way.
Kara Rigsby:There has to be a way that I can think differently about how I'm presenting my instruction for this to become truly a classroom environment rather than you feel like you're walking through a museum and, you know, you're, know, everything is super quiet. So that was the moment. And that's when we started having those discussions with Megan in upper grade just with, you know, because she was seeing similar things in her classroom as well. The lack of engagement, the lack of student growth and us finally deciding like something's got to change. And it was it was that that really kind of started us off.
Megan Diede:Yeah. And and what it comes down to is we were doing all the things. Mhmm. Right? We had so many things that we were we were thinking we were right.
Megan Diede:Mhmm. We were doing all the educators things and we kept thinking like something isn't working. Then you put it back on yourself as a teacher. Like, what am I doing in
Jordan Bassett:that that kinda hit you Yeah. Feeling like it was something with you Yes. Because because you get taught all the different things in in school or even coming to conferences or whatever.
Megan Diede:Absolutely. Mhmm.
Jordan Bassett:So
Megan Diede:Yeah. You're you're a lifelong learner in education. Right? And we I think educators are the most amazing people.
Jordan Bassett:Mhmm.
Megan Diede:You know, we we can pick each other out on the street and be like, oh, she's a teacher. Oh, he's a teacher. Know? There's just something different about us. And we love so hard and we wanna do such a good job for our kids.
Megan Diede:And so when it's not working and we don't know why or how to fix it, you know, you start reflecting in yourself like these babies, they have to learn this. I want them to love school. I want it to them to come back and be smiling. And so it just hit us very hard that how do we how do we move forward with that? Mhmm.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah. I can really tell that both of you care real deeply about your students. Yes. And you guys are still you're still teaching. You're not just, like, off Yes.
Jordan Bassett:Consulting and talking to people, but you guys are still
Megan Diede:We're still
Jordan Bassett:the classroom.
Megan Diede:Still practicing educators. We work a hundred and eighty days with those babies and, you know, and we we do this, if you will, on the side just to help other educators.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah. Yeah. And I think you really hit it when you said that, you know, you're lifelong learners, like, and you can see and how you guys wanna bring that circle, that cycle back to teach teachers. You're teaching all the way through. When it comes to I I guess one of the questions that I think when it comes to, like, the way integrated works and your pathways to learning, it's not just for one type, like it's not just for the difficult.
Jordan Bassett:Right? Right. It's not just for the the easy or, you know, the ones that have, that may have ADD or ADHD, like Sure.
Megan Diede:Mhmm.
Jordan Bassett:It's for everyone.
Megan Diede:It's for everybody. Yeah.
Kara Rigsby:Yeah. And one thing we speak on as well is it can be any age, any grade, any subject or content area. Because you think about the students entering any of those classrooms across the nation, every one of those students is going to learn in a little bit different way. And so with the pathways that we are training and speaking on is we're giving all of those students an opportunity to be successful in whatever content area, whatever age level they're at. We're trying to give them an opportunity to be successful in learning and understanding what's being presented to them.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah. Yeah. And that's what's great when I was looking over everything that you guys do is that it's not just for one content area or for one thing. It's really a full it's a philosophy of kind of like of teaching. Can you can you speak just a little bit about we keep saying this word integrated and everything.
Jordan Bassett:What is what does that mean?
Megan Diede:So integrated is putting together different content standards for them to make sense. So you're talking about leading with a content from maybe science, social studies, civics. Right? We we have to provide our students with knowledge because that's where it's at, is if you have background knowledge of something, you're able to understand the skills or vocabulary or things that come along with that. So integrated is basically putting together your different subjects and teaching them in a way that's going to help our students put into their long term memory.
Megan Diede:Because at the end of the day, we want our students to have all of this knowledge. We want them to be very much prepared for whatever future they hold and whatever job they want to take. And the pathways that we keep talking about are pathways to understand that content very well. So we're talking about movement and music and visual arts and storytelling. You know, different ways we're all sitting here, even as adults, learn in a very different way from each other.
Megan Diede:And so when we present this to our teachers, that's kind of how we present it is we're giving you multiple ways to understand the information just like our students.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah, yeah. I definitely see that even in myself in learning and having all the different pathways to understand something. Think, you know, we live in a really interesting time that we have access to all these different pathways of learning. I I tell people all the time, like, I feel like I learn learn more outside of school Sure. By hearing and I think that's because I can look at all these different pathways, and I think if when I was in school having something that was more of what you guys are talking about is integrating all these things together, I probably could have been more successful and
Megan Diede:Right.
Jordan Bassett:And felt more like I knew what was going on. Yeah. It was kind of tough for me. But so we've kind of defined a little bit of integrated what you do. We mentioned the pathways, but what we're gonna do is we're gonna take just a quick short break.
Jordan Bassett:And when we come back, we'll talk more about those pathways of learning and some of those specifics that, our listeners can kinda maybe start working into their curriculum, into their lessons. So listeners, hang tight for just a little bit, and we'll see you on the other side of the break. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Innovative Schools podcast. We're here with Megan and Kara from Integrated.
Jordan Bassett:We've talked a little bit about Integrated and your pathways to learning. You mentioned them really quickly. Yes. But let's take some time and dive into some of them. But first is, can you go over them again and maybe say a little bit about each one of those pathways to learning?
Megan Diede:Yeah. We've identified seven Mhmm. Pathways for students to get that content in a way that makes sense to them. So those seven are movement, music, storytelling, visual arts, hands on, technology And auditory. And auditory.
Jordan Bassett:I like the throw at the end.
Megan Diede:Yeah. I was
Jordan Bassett:like, and I took a minute. You're still using the pathways of learning to learn your pathways of
Megan Diede:learning. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes I'm like, what? And if you say them out of order, then you're all messed up.
Jordan Bassett:Yes. Yes. Absolutely. I I totally I totally get that and understand that. How did you you you said you've identified seven.
Megan Diede:Yes.
Jordan Bassett:How did you end up with these seven?
Megan Diede:It kinda stemmed from when Kara and I started teaching, but then I got my masters in integrating arts and technology. And through that work, I realized that a lot of the things that I was learning is really what our students need in the classroom just at a different level.
Jordan Bassett:Mhmm.
Megan Diede:So thinking about how I was learning as a learner through my master's degree, I realized I need some of these pathways to understand what's happening.
Jordan Bassett:Oh, okay. Yeah.
Megan Diede:So with that, I started talking to Kara about, hey, listen, our kids are doing we're doing these things already in our classroom, but I think it's called something. And so that's really where the pathways of learning was born is we were already kind of integrating those into our our teaching, and we realized that they're really purposeful for our kids.
Kara Rigsby:It really came down to as well kind of that field investigation almost or field research where we Yeah,
Jordan Bassett:I love that.
Kara Rigsby:We would go through a lesson or instruction and we'd be like, all right, what did we do here and how were kids accessing that information today and what was making that successful? And so that's also, you know, stemming from what Meg had brought from her master's, but then taking it a step further and then truly identifying what was happening classroom and getting real time information about, okay, this is, you know, today we used technology and I might add purposeful technology. The kids were accessing information in that way, or they were creation in that way. And so a little bit of research and a little bit of, field study on our part as well, but that is that's how the pathways came to be.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah. I love that it's not just like this theoretical No. Thing. You're like, yeah, this sounds like a good idea, but it's again, because it goes back to you guys still being teachers.
Megan Diede:Right.
Jordan Bassett:I think that's Right. I'm gonna keep stressing that because I think that's really important.
Megan Diede:It's huge.
Jordan Bassett:That it's not just something that you, like, came up with and you're like, this sounds good and I'm gonna start talking about it, you kind of you thought about it and you said, well let's actually try this and see what kind of results that we get.
Kara Rigsby:Anything that we speak on, consult on, coach on, we we have implemented, used and developed in our own classrooms and in our own time. So everything that we're speaking on, we truly believe in because we have been able to see in real time the effects and the power that it has with students and their student growth.
Megan Diede:And I think part of it is that we've had those trip ups and those mistakes that haven't worked in our classroom. And so we're able to take those out of the equation for other educators and we can give them, all right, actually try it like this. Mhmm. You know, when we struggle with something, this is the steps we took to get there. Let me give you kind of a guide to help you so you don't have to feel that struggle like we did.
Jordan Bassett:Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. So going back to the seven, we have Yes.
Jordan Bassett:Technology, auditory, music. This is a different order from what you said. Technology, auditory, music, movement, visual arts, storytelling, and a hands on. Yes. Okay.
Jordan Bassett:I wanna dive into a couple of these and let's talk about them a little bit. So visual arts. What is that pathway to learning? How can a teacher actually integrate that into their lesson? Did I do that correctly?
Jordan Bassett:Yeah.
Megan Diede:You did. You did. Okay. That was awesome. I'm gonna take this one because visual arts is my pathway.
Jordan Bassett:You did do a master's.
Megan Diede:I love visual arts. In fact, the construction paper, the glue, the glitter.
Kara Rigsby:Oh, there's
Jordan Bassett:That doesn't sound like master's level.
Kara Rigsby:There are times where I have to go next door and say, put down the glitter. Our poor custodial staff Oh, goodness. I don't know how many times she's had to leave, like, treats and candy bars and All you need. You know, little notes saying thank you so much because
Jordan Bassett:Do you leave a sign that's made in construction paper but with glitter that says sorry for the glitter?
Megan Diede:No. But I'm going to now.
Jordan Bassett:Okay. Yes. Genius. That is a genius.
Megan Diede:With a cupcake and a little can of pop. Perfect. You know, I try to clean up the mess. Perfect. Okay.
Megan Diede:But the real thing is of it is that visual arts can play such a huge part in students' lives. Mhmm. In that, one of the students that I had a couple years ago, he was brilliant, absolutely brilliant. He couldn't communicate with his peers because he couldn't articulate what he was trying to say at a level that they understood.
Jordan Bassett:Okay.
Megan Diede:And so he would go through all of the motions and get all of the things, but then become so frustrated when he couldn't explain it.
Jordan Bassett:So
Megan Diede:that's where the visual arts came in for him, is we were inside of a huge unit with animal traits and all the things, and he decided that he was going to show his learning through a visual arts. He was going to create these animal traits using all kinds of different materials. And then when he presented that to his class, they were like, I get it. I understand. So not only for himself did he understand what he was learning, but then he provided an experience and a way for them to understand what he was trying to tell them.
Megan Diede:And so there was a double learning happening there. Got it. And so with visual arts, you're thinking any way that students can be creative, use different art things, painting. We have our kids paper mache. We had seventy five third graders paper mache ing in the lunch room.
Jordan Bassett:Sorry custodians.
Megan Diede:Yes. Sorry, custodians. We did stay late and clean up the floor.
Kara Rigsby:We did.
Megan Diede:That type of experience for them, they were creating globes. Had to have an understanding of of continents in order for us to have an understanding of weather and where climate happens that leads to ecosystems. And that one experience, that one visual arts piece gave them something to hold on to that was concrete and everything is starting to connect to it.
Jordan Bassett:Gotcha. Gotcha. So it's it was more like they're well, maybe it's both ways. Showing what they've learned through what they've they've made. Yep.
Jordan Bassett:But also do you does it go the other way of like you using something to visually show them Absolutely. I guess the beginning.
Kara Rigsby:Yeah. It it not only can it be a end of unit where like they showcase their learning, but it can also be used as a building block throughout their learning. So for example, the globes, we did that at a very early stage in their learning of what was happening. But after that creation, we were able to use those visual representations as we continue to build upon their learning.
Jordan Bassett:So
Kara Rigsby:when you're talking about different ecosystems, weather, climate, natural disasters, all of those things, you know, the weather that they experience in, let's say, Australia, that's going be very different than what we experience in Wyoming. Yeah. And so they're able to see visually like why that might be different and all of the learning that goes with that.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah. Can really see that. I always had a problem in school where I could, on a test, could tell you what was on the page in the textbook and where it was and how the letters were arranged, but I couldn't always draw the information back out. And so I could see where, for me, doing something like that, if I'm putting on the strips of paper and drawing the continents and doing all this different stuff, it would help me visualize and start associating in a a space Absolutely. Rather than just on a page the information Yeah.
Jordan Bassett:And the knowledge that
Megan Diede:It's less learning. Sit and get, and it's more hands on involved in your own learning.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah.
Kara Rigsby:Yeah. Absolutely. It's truly we're trying to create an experience where you're taking a more abstract concept and you're trying to make it concrete. And that's what the learning pathways are trying to do for these students. They're just trying to create a bridge from the content transferred into knowledge.
Kara Rigsby:They're trying to create that bridge so students can be successful.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah. It also gives them a chance to, I guess if you're using at that the end to show how they can retrieve and organize and display Yeah. What they've learned.
Megan Diede:Yeah. And it it comes down to that's a huge piece is the assessment piece. Mhmm. You know, there's a lot of pieces of assessment that we don't have control over, whether it's from state or district, but the one piece we do have control over for assessment is how what am what are our students walking away with? What do they actually know?
Megan Diede:And so that's where when we say in our sessions assessment can be fun. Yeah. You know, we get eye rolls and humps and they're not, you know, arms crossed, but really what it comes down to is it's allowing students sometimes to showcase their knowledge in a different way. So it's not just a multiple choice. Yeah.
Megan Diede:It's not a short answer. And you can truly see your student. You can figure out what they're really good at. You can figure out what gaps they have, and then you can start closing those. And that's where the student growth comes into play.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah. Yeah. For sure. For sure. So let's talk about storytelling then.
Jordan Bassett:That's another pathway that you guys have identified. So how do you guys use storytelling? How do
Kara Rigsby:we do that? Yeah. Storytelling is a great way for students to connect with one another. So storytelling can honestly be almost a climate and culture building piece as well. But when we're talking about storytelling, we're not simply talking about, you know, helping students build fictional stories where that's where it might where it start, but when it's being used in a learning pathway and you're trying to strengthen their knowledge in a content area, you are actually backing the content into that story.
Kara Rigsby:So for example, our students were learning about forces in motion. Their job was to create a story about going to an amusement park with roller coasters. But it wasn't just left at that. They had to demonstrate understanding by putting vocabulary terms in their writing. Their characters could be doing different things, but they had to demonstrate understanding with vocabulary, with their illustrations, whether it was more of a chapter book layout or whether it was a comic strip layout, we gave them kind of student choice in that.
Kara Rigsby:But the storytelling piece was just giving them a different way to showcase their understanding of that content before we kept moving on because we wanted to make sure that, you know, everything was solid before throwing new skills or new content at them.
Jordan Bassett:Right, sure. Yeah. So there you know you have this list of words that you're supposed to know
Megan Diede:and spell
Jordan Bassett:and you know whatever. And I guess every time I do one of these and I tell them, like, man, yeah, I remember that in school. And I could just pull those words out, but I didn't always know how to use them. I didn't always know the right way. I'm like, I know how to spell that word mostly, and but I don't know how to use it in a sentence.
Kara Rigsby:We talk a lot about how kids, they can memorize, but that's not that's not our goal for students in our educational system. We don't want to create a group of students who are just simply good at taking a test. We want students who truly understand the material that we're trying to present to them. And I was one of those kids. I was a great memorizer.
Kara Rigsby:Like you were saying, I could spell like a banshee. You know, I could memorize multiple choice, but Sunken and I took the test or that section of the learning was done, that all went away. And if someone were to truly ask me to do something like putting it in a story, that's a whole another ballgame because I truly didn't understand what it actually was. But giving them a pathway, if I would have been given a different pathway, it would have forced me at least to think about it in a different way to then hopefully better understand.
Jordan Bassett:Sure.
Megan Diede:And then when it comes down to is you forget everything that you learned. Mhmm. You know, if you have to memorize it, you're like, okay, I'm just gonna quick do this, you're not gonna have that information anymore. Steve Spangler says something very memorable for us, and he says that activities are transactional and experiences are transformational.
Jordan Bassett:Oh wow, yeah.
Megan Diede:And I we when we heard that, when we heard him say that we were like that is everything because if we just keep continuing to go through transactions in school, you forget those and they go away. It's quick and over and done.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah. I I very much relate to that.
Megan Diede:But if you're transforming your education, if you're transforming the lesson and the learning, you're taking that with you, and now you have all of this knowledge that's with you forever for as long as you want it.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah. So how do you build so one of the the last kind of pathway we'll talk about is is hands on.
Megan Diede:Mhmm.
Jordan Bassett:So how do you build the experiences with hands on?
Megan Diede:With the hands on. You know, it's a lot like visual arts. You know, you can bring the art piece. I think they go, hand in hand. But the hands on piece is very important because students, we need to touch some of the things that we're doing.
Megan Diede:We need to be actively involved in our learning. And so when you have students that need to have that tactile piece or to be moving, you know, thinking about fractions or time, that is a very hard concept to grasp if you're just telling me about it. But if you can get hands on and you're building the timeline or you're building the clock or you're measuring this, it's just something that students can can use and move and manipulate. Mhmm.
Kara Rigsby:It's when you're thinking about sensory, it's just hitting another a different sense of the students. And like she was saying, you know, some students learn really well just by listening. A lot of students, me included, I need to be able to touch it, to feel it, to experience it in some way for me to truly understand what they mean by that. Mhmm. Yeah.
Kara Rigsby:And again, it's taking something from abstract to concrete and hands on is a great way to have students experience that.
Megan Diede:Another piece with that is is a lot of the examples that we share are very elementary. It's very primary and intermediate, but we cannot speak enough to middle school, high school, college that we, us adults, we need to understand how how learning works and we need different pathways. So our high schoolers and our junior high, they're just kindergarteners and giant bodies.
Jordan Bassett:You know? We we
Megan Diede:still need to bring out the Play Doh or the the something to investigate or something to do, you know, to create that experience. I think so many times, I have a high schooler of my own that will come home and I'm like, how's school? How is it going? It's fine. Great.
Megan Diede:Whatever. You know? And but there was a time in his in his schooling that he came running into the house. Mom, you have to sign this piece of paper. And I'm thinking, okay.
Megan Diede:Like, we're field trip. What does he wanna do? They were gonna explode pumpkins in science class. And I was like, yes. Absolutely.
Megan Diede:I know how to use a fire extinguisher, so I'm I
Jordan Bassett:brought hands on.
Megan Diede:Talked by hands on. I hope. Now we have Safely. Hopefully. He stole all of his fingers.
Megan Diede:Okay. Thinking about that experience, that hands on, using it, he can now tell me chemical reactions. You know? And he's going to take that with him for a very long time. Rather than just reading about how those things happen in a in a book, in a textbook, he was able to participate in that learning, and now he can hold on to that in his own way.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah. And sorry, were you gonna say something?
Kara Rigsby:Oh, I was just gonna add the piece of that's why learning pathways and experiences are so powerful is that it can hit any age, any grade, any content area because it doesn't have to be, you know, elementary specific. Like Meg said, every kid is going to learn differently even in a higher setting. And so we just need to give them and they deserve the opportunity to learn in those ways just like our younger kids do.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah, for sure. Do these experiences have to be elaborate? Does hands on have
Kara Rigsby:to be huge? That's a great question.
Megan Diede:That's a wonderful question.
Kara Rigsby:No. I
Jordan Bassett:loved this sinking No.
Megan Diede:Hysteria. In fact, the no because we just don't have time Yeah. To make them elaborate all the time.
Jordan Bassett:We talked earlier about all the spending plates.
Megan Diede:Oh, all the plates that we carry. I think what happens is is that when you do plan these in, the students are grasping the information quickly, and you don't have to spend so much time on it.
Jordan Bassett:Mhmm.
Megan Diede:So there's that piece. But on the other side is they can be very very simple. Mhmm. You know, if you don't wanna create this giant elaborate experience, just just do something little. You know, we're talking about cultural studies and you just bring in dot painting, you know, and connecting some of that cultural piece to it and you just have this one little piece or, you know, thinking about storytelling, you just have your students tell that story of their writing to some peers.
Megan Diede:They have now said it to somebody three or four different times. They can add more detail. They can think about what else they wanna do with that story. You know, it can be very simple integrated ways for you to elevate your instruction.
Jordan Bassett:Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah. I I kinda knew the answer to that question. Yeah.
Jordan Bassett:I'm glad you asked that. I wanted to put it out there. I think about it, you know, just as you've been talking, specifically with the hands on, like, sure, you can go elaborate. My daughter right now is learning how to measure Mhmm. Things.
Jordan Bassett:And so, you know, she loves just walking around with a ruler.
Megan Diede:Absolutely. Absolutely.
Jordan Bassett:Like, that's hands on. She's just like, how wide is this? How long is that? How and she's just around doing it, and we just put a rule in her hands. We didn't Yes.
Jordan Bassett:We didn't make some elaborate game or something for her to go to measure and find the code words. I mean, you can do that for sure.
Megan Diede:You could. You could.
Jordan Bassett:Like, if you have the time, good for you. But
Megan Diede:you know But sometimes simple is always it can be better. Yeah. Yeah. I love that you've done that. That's
Jordan Bassett:I got I so I have one more question. I I really like this question. Our our one of our producers wrote it in just as we were going. How do you respond to people that say that students don't need experiences?
Megan Diede:Oh. They haven't been teaching long enough.
Jordan Bassett:You know, they may say, I don't have time.
Megan Diede:I don't We get that all the time. I don't have time.
Jordan Bassett:Even just talking about we talked a minute about like high schoolers. They're high schoolers.
Megan Diede:They're grown ups. They can do it. They're old. They should just do it.
Kara Rigsby:The definition of experience is gaining knowledge through participation and observation. The definition of experience has the word knowledge in it. So my question would be to them is why aren't you using them? If our job as educators is to build their knowledge and to build student growth, why are experiences not a part of our instruction on a daily basis?
Megan Diede:Yeah. Mic drop. Yeah.
Jordan Bassett:For real. Like, I mean, that yes. I completely agree.
Megan Diede:We we we need our we we have to give our students the knowledge. You know, so many times we hear, well, our students aren't growing. The the tests aren't making it. Our national averages are dropping, and reading and writing and math. What are we doing?
Megan Diede:Well, we're not providing them knowledge. Mhmm. You can teach them all the skills that you want, but if they don't know how to apply those skills then they're useless.
Kara Rigsby:Well, and what's happening is we tend to do throw a lot at these students and we're not creating a bridge in order to take all of what we're trying to tell them and turn it into long term memory. So that is why the pathways and experiences are so important is because that is the bridge in order for them to turn it into long term memory and therefore show growth on all of those things that they're worrying about.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah. Well, Kara and Megan, thank you so much You're welcome. For joining us on the Innovative Schools podcast. I mean, I learned a lot. Even thinking of, you know, we have this podcast, but how do we how do we bring some of these pathways into the podcast?
Jordan Bassett:Yeah.
Megan Diede:We can help you with that. Can
Jordan Bassett:and learn and keep going. So thank you so much for joining us on You guys two quick two things. Okay. Is one, by the time this podcast is released, I think you'll have a book out. We will have a book Yes,
Megan Diede:it's on pre order right now, but it will be in the hands of educators on April 30
Jordan Bassett:'20 '20 That's fantastic. So if we release this early, you know when the release date is. If it's after April 30 Yeah. Then you can go and get it. Do you have is it the website or Yep.
Jordan Bassett:Do we know yet? We can put a link
Megan Diede:Yep. In the show notes. So there will be on our on our website is integratedk12.com. You can head on over there and get yourself your own copy of that. This book is called The Elevated Educator.
Megan Diede:Mhmm. And it has got 70 plus, ideas for educators to use to create pathways and experiences in their classroom, as well as kind of the application behind that. So it's just it it's just the book. It's the guide.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah. It's one those. And also through that website, can they contact you if they have either questions or talk to you about possibly coming in?
Megan Diede:Absolutely. Yep. We're on all social media platforms at integrated k twelve integrated edu, as well as you can email us. You can get that information on our website. We do we come into schools, districts, conferences.
Megan Diede:We we help consult and coach, schools literally all over the nation. So
Jordan Bassett:Perfect. We will put links to all of that in the show notes. Wonderful. Thank you again for joining us on this episode.
Megan Diede:Yeah. Thank you for having us.
Jordan Bassett:And good luck in every teach everyone. Just go. Thank you
Megan Diede:so much. We appreciate it.
Jordan Bassett:If you enjoyed this episode of the Innovative Schools podcast, I want to ask you to do us a favor and, share this with everyone you know and rate it, review it, all those different things. We we're not really doing this to make ourselves important. We want to make you educators important, and we wanna give you as many tools and resources as possible, and we want to reach as many educators as we possibly can. Teaching is a very difficult career choice, and, it has a lot of late nights and hard work, and that is all rewarded in the success of your students. Thank you for joining us on this episode.
Jordan Bassett:I'm Jordan. I will see you on the next one.