#358 – Establishing Your Classroom Environment, with Sarah Neitz

If you are listening to the podcast with your instructional team or would like to explore this topic more deeply, here are guiding questions to prompt your reflection:

• What are keys to developing a strong physical environment in the classroom?
• How can teachers establish a strong philosophical classroom environment?
• What are some strategies for creating a successful digital learning environment?
• What strategies stood out to you in this episode?
• What is one way you can begin improving your own classroom environment?

• AVID Certified Educator (AVID)
• The Cognitive Theory of the First Pancake – Zaretta Hammond (A.J. Juliani via YouTube)
• The First Five (Edtomorrow)
• Classroom Routines Eliminate Chaos and Confusion (Dr. Catlin Tucker)

#358 Establishing Your Classroom Environment, with Sarah Neitz

AVID Open Access
36 min

Keywords
classroom environment, student relationships, authenticity, physical environment, philosophical environment, digital environment, classroom routines, student engagement, mindfulness activities, classroom jobs, student work, connection activities, academic growth, teacher burnout, classroom consistency

Transcript

The following transcript was automatically generated from the podcast audio by generative artificial intelligence.  Because of the automated nature of the process, this transcript may include unintended transcription and mechanical errors.

Sarah Neitz 0:00 Those relationships don’t come easy, and so that is something that you have to work on every single day. How are we having kids build relationships with us? How are they building relationships with each other? And the most important, I think sometimes we forget about is, how are they building relationships with us? And the whole class.

Winston Benjamin 0:19 The topic for today’s podcast is establishing your classroom environment with Sarah Neitz. Unpacking Education is brought to you by avid.org. AVID believes in seeing the potential of every student. To learn more about AVID, visit their website at avid.org.

Rena Clark 0:40 Welcome to Unpacking Education, the podcast where we explore current issues and best practices in education. I’m Rena Clark.

Paul Beckermann 0:51 I’m Paul Beckermann, and

Winston Benjamin 0:53 I’m Winston Benjamin. We are educators,

Paul Beckermann 0:56 and we’re here to share insights and actionable strategies.

Transition Music with Rena’s Children 1:00 Education is our passport to the future.

Winston Benjamin 1:05 Our quote for today is from Alicia Ivory in her article, “The Importance of Classroom Community”. She writes, “Ensure that every student feels seen,” simple but deep. Rena or Paul, would like to start to talk about that? What are thinking?

Rena Clark 1:23 Well, like you said, it seems simple, but when you really get to the heart of it, it’s not so easy always, especially as I’m working, you know, with high school teachers, and you have 190 students, and how do you make sure that every single student feels seen?

And I think we can do that as individuals, but also as a community. And then also, how do we make them seen for who they authentically are and what they authentically bring to the table: their strengths, where they are now, not where we want them to be or who we want them to be, but seen for who they are and valued for who they are.

It’s a bigger job than it sounds, and those that do it well work really hard at it, and have to be intentional. Yeah.

Paul Beckermann 2:12 That authenticity is so key, isn’t it? And what strikes me, in addition to that, is that the students’ perspective really matters here. You know, we can think that we’re allowing students to be seen and heard, but if they don’t think they are, then they really aren’t.

So it’s kind of like that old saying, you know, perception is reality, and in this case, it’s their perception of being seen that’s the reality, that’s what really matters.

Winston Benjamin 2:38 I appreciate you both talking about the students’ perspective, and this really gives us a chance to really ground our discussion about creating a classroom environment where students do feel like they are being seen.

And today we have somebody to help us think through that a little bit more. Our guest, Sarah Neitz, is a seventh grade life science teacher at [What What] Middle School, and AVID elective teacher, and an AVID staff developer. I would like to just say thank you, Sarah, for being here. Welcome to our show.

Sarah Neitz 3:09 Thank you. It’s awesome to be here.

Winston Benjamin 3:11 I appreciate it. So again, some of the things that we’d like to do is help our listeners actually ground themselves in our expert’s knowledge and background. So could you just tell us a little bit more about yourself?

Sarah Neitz 3:23 Sure, I’d love to. So this is my 26th year in education. Like many people out there, I have had many roles, starting actually with being a seventh grade science teacher, becoming the AVID elective teacher, the coordinator, then moving on to a district position, became district director for a while, then moved to a high school, did a lot of the same jobs, but full circle, back to the Middle School, where I started.

So I missed the middle school kids. I missed teaching science, and now I have the best of both worlds by having an AVID elective but also being able to teach seventh grade science, which is kind of why I started and why I began to teach.

Also some of the other things with AVID: this would be my coming up to my 10th year as an AVID staff developer. Kind of an exciting time to realize—I blanked—and I’ve been doing that for 10 years. I’ve supported the Bridges book—that’s kind of an older book now—but helped, was co-writer for that, as well as helped out writing some of the science strands and the old ADL strands.

So kind of had my hand in a lot of the writing with AVID and learned so much from everybody that I had the honor to work with. As well as I coached girls varsity soccer for 23 years, retired from that. That was a lot, but I have found somehow my time has been filled up.

I have two grown children in early 20s, and my husband, Dennis. So that’s kind of where my time is right now, is family and friends and just trying to improve my craft every day. So.

Rena Clark 4:56 How would you define classroom environment and what led you to focusing on, specifically, this aspect in your classroom?

Sarah Neitz 5:04 So I think it goes back to the quote that you all just were talking about and discussing. I think the idea is, what is the feeling do we want our students to get when they walk in the classroom? You know, we want that inviting feeling. We want them to feel welcomed, the setup of making sure that they understand what’s going to happen, those routines, making sure that we have the accommodations of seats for all of our different media learners in different ways.

Having them recognize and seeing themselves in the classroom. What are we putting up on our walls that not only promote science, but what promotes all students in science? And so being really cognizant of that, and providing different avenues and ways that, again, it’s a place that kids want to be. And so I think that’s kind of super important in that aspect as well.

Also, that idea of inspiring learning. What are you going to do in your classroom physically that inspires kids to learn, to want to play, to want to engage, and especially in science, to want to inquire, wonder? And so just setting up that space for that piece as well physically, I think, is super important.

Paul Beckermann 6:12 So let’s talk a little bit more about that. Because I know that in some of the work that you’ve done, there were different aspects of environment: there was physical, philosophical, and digital. I believe we talked about that before we went on air. And I’m just wondering if you can take a minute and just break down that physical part. You talked about it a little bit, but could you share some more about how you do that in your classroom?

Sarah Neitz 6:33 Sure. So one of the things I think that is really helpful with the physical environment is those routines. Working with Conscious Discipline this summer, taking some of the courses, and, you know, I, I’ve always been bored with routines. I’m kind of that—I want to be creative, I want kids to have the opportunity to just explore and do all that, so that kids need routine.

And so really creating those routines of what is happening at the beginning of the hour, what is, you know, as they walk into the classroom, what’s on the screen. Then the next step is, you’re putting up your agenda, and you’re having kids get out their planners and their writing in their planners.

Then I always do, which I can talk about in a little bit, but just a connecting activity. What are we doing to connect our students with each other? When that is done, then really that idea of, how do we get students then centered again? So mindful activities that might be around the idea of breathing or the idea of just mindfulness in general, so some of those routines for students.

Now, one of the things too, just in the physical environment, is having classroom jobs. So allowing students to have jobs and have ownership in what’s going on, from taking attendance to answering the phone to greeting people when they’re coming to the door, and having students involved in what are the other jobs that we need?

So after the first try, we’re already looking and like, okay, that job did a lot of work, and that job didn’t. And so how are we going to as a community, fix that? And so building that community.

Another piece is having student work on the wall physically, if we’re talking physically. So one of the things we do at the beginning of the year is, you know, you draw a scientist, but you’re a scientist, so let’s represent our class. And so how does that scientist look? And what are we bringing to the classroom like that?

You know, making sure our desks have opportunity for collaboration and movement, right? We have to have that movement piece as well, and having students be able to get up and move around. And I always tell them that they got to get that blood out of their butt back into their brains, right, to make sure that doesn’t pool. And so how can we make sure that that continues to happen, and we have to provide that space and opportunity.

Winston Benjamin 8:38 I totally agree. Sometimes I have now, because I work in middle school with middle schoolers as well, the random injury that pops up and thinking about, like, how do you create a space for the kid who is on crutches? Like, how do you allow for them to move in the room, to be welcomed in the room, to not trip over bags? Like, those are also an important aspect of that physical space that you’re talking about.

But this idea of the philosophical classroom environment, could you go into that a little bit more deeply? I’m really digging that idea, for sure.

Sarah Neitz 9:12 One of the things, again, with Conscious Discipline is the idea of who are we bringing in the classroom as ourselves. So I need to first know what my mental state is in, right?

So they talk about that. You have, you know, the three different parts of your brain. Where am I at with my brain? There’s those three stages, right? You have your basic brain, where you’re the brain stem. It’s like your basic needs need to be met.

Then you have your emotional brain, where a lot of times, as teachers, we tend to be in that emotional brain, and we’re not thinking, we react. We have a student that maybe gets upset with us, and we just snap right back at them without thinking.

And so that’s why we need our executive brain. We need to cover up that emotional brain as well as our brain stem, and make sure that we’re there present, yes, in a way that is helpful for students.

And so that was one of the biggest things that I did in the beginning of the year is I really stepped back and said, “Okay, where’s my brain state right now?” Especially when I start getting elevated, I’ll even tell the kids, “Okay, I’m going to my emotional brain right now, so you’re just going to have to give me a minute”. And then if I even if I make a mistake, I model that. So that was kind of a big piece personally, is taking ownership in myself and who I was bringing in the classroom. Now, do I make mistakes? Obviously, and I do, but that is one of the biggest roles that I found to be super important when talking about that piece.

And I think too, the piece of the philosophical piece too, is the idea of, like it was mentioned earlier from Rena, is like, how are we having kids build relationships with us? How are they building relationships with each other? And the most important, I think sometimes we forget about, is, how are they building relationships with us and the whole class?

So those are the kind of the components that I make sure that I bring into in the beginning of every class, and that was what I was talking about earlier, is my connection activity. For example, where they’re at: Mondays, we do a meet and greet. So I give them three minutes. They walk around, they have to high five, fist bump, or wave at three to five people they haven’t talked to all day. And then it gives them an extra minute to talk to who they want.

So it gives that time to connect with others in the classroom, and kind of forces them out of their comfort zone. But every day is a different activity, and that really connects with the whole class, and getting them moving and talking and working together with each other.

And so, like Rena said, those relationships don’t come easy, and so that is something that you have to work on every single day, and making sure that I also do that, you know, from beginning and when kids are entering the door, you’re seeing their names.

I even have a student greeter. So the student greeter—it’s super cute—I have a girl in my sixth hour that totally came on her own, and she just waves at kids as they come in the room and says hello. And so I’m like, wow, I’ve just been super surprised that she’s, you know, being able to do this and to come out of her comfort zone and really own it.

And so it’s a lot of teacher giving up some of that control that we have, and letting kids grow and develop and develop these skills that they don’t have. And so we’re there to guide them and help them, but really, that idea of, how can we make that inviting and comforting space, and how can we walk alongside our students while we’re doing this and owning our mistakes?

Rena Clark 12:28 Yeah, it’s funny. I was meeting with a teacher today in high school, and he was saying, you know, he had students in his DECA classroom, and across the way, they were computer science students, but they all needed to work on introductions and handshakes. So once a week, they go out in the hall and kids practice meeting a new student from across the hall, practicing a handshake and an introduction, just because they needed that.

They need that interaction with each other and to feel seen for that moment by another human. And it’s a good life skill, and I feel especially with some of these kids that were remote learning for a while, that is something they have not developed.

So I love that you’re making those soft skills, we say, that need to align also with, you know, our rigor and academic skills, which then pushes us into—we talk about this third kind of space—the digital classroom. So we’d love to hear more as you’re balancing that physical, the philosophical, and now that digital classroom environment.

Sarah Neitz 13:26 For me, I think one of the biggest pieces that has been helpful, you know, if we think boatman is an AVID demonstration school, but there’s many AVID demonstration schools out there that do phenomenal work. But one of the key pieces that we have really done well as a school is: when it’s like a rule or an idea—I don’t want to say rule—but we come up with an idea, we all do it.

So one of the things that came up was the cell phone. And I know now it’s kind of a state guideline too, but our school has done a really good job of every single teacher saying, “No cell phones, no cell phones, no cell phones”.

And we follow the rule of: first time you see it, they put it in their locker. Second time they see it, you take it to the office. Third time, a parent has to come and get it. And honestly, we sent it out as kind of a post to parents in many different avenues, and we’ve all enforced it. And so it has been night and day for us. Even in the lunch room, they can’t have it. So now we have board games out in the lunch room, and that actually has been kind of a good piece and a good rule digitally.

We do this very well school-wide, too, where we have an advisory class about 20 minutes at the beginning of the day. And I know that’s not accessible for all teachers, but we, again, all do the same thing, all three grades. We do the same thing, where we do our grade checks on Monday, we have time to organize both physical and digital spaces, and so those are kind of some key pieces.

As well as kind of having those rules in the classroom, like, “Hey, I’ll tell you no,” but we’ll say, like, “It’s time to get out the Chromebooks,” versus them having them open right away. And I have to follow through. That is the biggest thing that I found out that works, is, “Okay, student, oh, close your Chromebooks, close your…” and I might have to say it a few times, but then they start to get into those routines. “Oh, Mrs. Neitz doesn’t want the Chromebook open until we do that”.

And so again, it comes a lot with the routines and modeling. But the biggest one for us this year, obviously, is not having those cell phones. That has been huge.

Rena Clark 15:23 So you talked about they have Chromebooks, so I’m assuming also you have that digital environment in the classroom, and maybe how you work within that digital environment.

Sarah Neitz 15:33 The platform we use is Schoology, and again, a lot of the preface and a lot of the setting up of the Schoology, a lot of setting up of the procedures all happens in advisory, and we all follow those same, you know, the same procedures in their Schoology.

As a staff, we all follow the same format. So each teacher has the same format. We have a current folder, like blue. Then we have, like, a done folder, black. And then they have, like, if you have any resources. And so we really try to keep that continuity in all of our classes with that piece.

Students are very good and understand that if they have questions or concerns, they can email us right through Schoology, and it’s a communication tool for some kids that might not be as willing to talk in person. And I found that my students have been very good about that this year, and really just connecting with me that way.

As well as, for example, they still use Google, but everything tends to go through Schoology. Kami is our platform when it comes to articles or anything that uploads. And they can write in; they can do any PDFs or any documents in those pieces as well.

Rena Clark 16:42 But it seems like with all of these, as you talked about, even with the physical routine, you talked about the importance of routine and making sure students understand that routine, how to go through that routine, whether it’s in your learning management system or your physical environment.

And my follow up is: we always talk about relationships, relationships, relationships. Relationships are so important. This environment is so important. But how do all of these—we still have to have high expectations for rigor. So I’m wondering, how does this support, or have you seen this support, those high expectations? How are you still balancing those high expectations for rigor in that science classroom at the same time?

Sarah Neitz 17:20 It’s interesting, because I honestly, you know, coming into—they do such a good job in the sixth grade classroom that when they come to me in seventh grade, these are already embedded. They already know what to do. They already know how to handle it.

You know, the biggest pieces and the problems is, “Oh, I don’t have my Chromebook today”. You know, then it’s, of course, we make the paper copies for kids to have it that way and to use that way.

The expectations really—the kids I have, from any type of students, I haven’t seen them unable to do it.

Otherwise, we have a student in the classroom, and their job is tech help. And so now we’ve utilized students as a role in a job to help support if they don’t know how to maybe do something when it comes to tech. There’s a couple kids in the classroom that will kind of walk around and help anytime there’s some tech issues or not going like that, you know.

And our district has been pretty lucky, because our kids have had Chromebooks all through elementary, so this is just, you know, that’s not their first hand in it. So I haven’t seen that where it’s a real issue.

The gaming can become an issue, but we have something called GoGuardian that is kind of a platform to help students not game as much. But again, that comes to engagement, too. What are we doing, and why are we using the Chromebooks?

And so the piece is, what is the assignment? Why am I using the Chromebooks, and keeping them engaged in that way, versus like, I’m just having them do a worksheet, right? So how are we using the digital piece to inform their learning and do their projects?

Winston Benjamin 18:49 I think that’s an important part of what you’re talking about, is that there’s this iterative process of back and forth learning, trying to figure out how to move and improve. So can you just talk to me about what have you learned or discovered on this journey of thinking about the classroom environments? What are the ways that these three components work together? What have you learned or discovered from this work?

Sarah Neitz 19:11 Sure, one of the things I do want to preface a little bit is that I’m in the process of doing the AVID Certified Educator program, and we’re in right now, we are in the process of the kind of inaugural season, or inaugural year of that, and it has been amazing. Well done so far by the people who have, you know, Gina Gamlis, who has kind of led the way on that.

But it has really guided my thinking and started to narrow down, after 26 years of teaching, like, you know, I know I can improve, but what, where can I improve? What are the tools I need to improve, and how can I collaborate with other people?

And so the idea of coming into it, and kind of my why behind doing this is that, you know, going back to a middle school after working with AVID seniors, I’m like, “All right, I’m rusty. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know where to start”. And so the AVID Educator course kind of helped me narrow my focus a little bit, and helped me to guide me to that next step.

Like a lot of people out there, we’ve done so much AVID professional learning, we don’t know what’s next, right? We’re like, well, we’ve done this, we’ve done that. We’ve even, as a staff developer, after 10 years of being a staff developer and a writer, this has been amazing, and actually has really enhanced.

And I feel probably the best prepared I’ve ever had. And, you know, I feel the best prepared I have ever had for the start of the school year. And that has to do with my start working with the AVID certified educator program, because, again, after teaching for so long, you just kind of start to do things without thinking. And so now I’ve been more thoughtful on that process and to be able to do that.

And so that discovery came from last year, you know, coming back into the classroom, you know, because I was doing a lot of everything the year before, with senior AVID students, with district director, with AVID coordinator. But I went in there last year going, “How am I going to survive this year?” And I did survive, but this year, I’m thriving, right?

And I think it’s because of that summer, for reflecting, learning from other educators, narrowing down what my focus really should be, and that focus became my physical environment.

And I will tell you, I’ve had teachers come in to do some observations, like, “We haven’t been in a calm classroom like this in so long”. Engaged, calm classroom. I’m not saying that we’re always calm, but in a way that when it’s time to learn or it’s time to listen, they’re there.

And it’s really all of those little things that I’ve been implementing from the beginning: structures of those routines to now at the end. I even play a cleanup song that they love, not the one that we all think of, but just finding these routines and things that they know is going to happen, that they love, and that a lot of times they’ll say at the end of the hour, “Boy, is it already time to go?” because of some of those things that have been implemented. So.

Paul Beckermann 21:45 You’ve kind of already touched on this in your answer, you know, about being thoughtful in your classroom and that specific goal, to really focus on that and how it’s impacted you and your students. How would you describe maybe the change from before you were really focusing on this to now? What’s that impact been for you and your kids?

Sarah Neitz 22:08 It really has one. I’ve enjoyed my job a lot more, and I think with teacher burnout and how things are going, I did not enjoy it last year, and now I’m enjoying it.

And I’m actually having those—when we do that connection time, I’m also taking that time to do the activities with kids. And so now I make sure, you know, I’m very cognizant of every time, like, “Oh, I haven’t done it with this kid. I’m gonna go connect with that kid.” “This kid’s choosing not to do it, so maybe I’ll have just a quick chat with him.”

So it really has put that in my forefront thought of like, “I’m not going to get anywhere unless I make sure that my classroom environment is in a way that makes everybody feel safe”. And so,

Paul Beckermann 22:46 So you totally pinpointed the one thing is that the joy that you feel in your classroom is so much different. Just wondering, what other things are different from, you know, last year, let’s just say, to this year?

Sarah Neitz 23:00 Yeah, and so, like I said, that joy, but also kids really thriving on those routines of knowing what is next. And then when I did kind of a survey of, “How are you guys liking this new setup?”—you know, not new to them, but “How do you like the setup that we come in, you look at like a joke or something, and then they do the agenda, and then we do a connection activity, and then a mindfulness activity?”

And they said that it really helps them to get focused for class. I have not lost any learning time because I’ve taken those extra five minutes at the beginning of class, versus me trying to get their attention 5,000 other times, because their minds are elsewhere when they come to class.

And the biggest thing that I’ve had to make sure that I’ve done is that follow through, right? If it doesn’t go right one day, I can’t just stop and not do it the next day. I—and that’s kind of having that cohort with AVID, right? Okay, so now, what do I do? You know, I don’t stop and not do it anymore and not follow through. How can I modify and do it again and try it again? Because again, it’s always just a cycle of learning.

Rena Clark 24:00 So have you seen academic growth then with students? Because they’re having more success in all these other areas.

Sarah Neitz 24:07 I do. I feel like one of the biggest, like, if I just think right off the bat, is homework completion or in-class completion. You know, I do the IMBs in science. And I don’t think there’s been a year that I’ve had such great notebooks. They know they have their table of contents. They actually have numbered the pages, and that’s just the organizational piece, but they’ve actually done the work.

And very few students—I don’t think I had one student not turn one in to be graded—and I would say that a majority, like 90% of my kids, had at least a B or above on their notebook check. And so that is kind of the academic piece where I feel like they’re engaging in their learning, they’re following through, they’re participating. And so that piece has kind of been my—I felt like—an impact of seeing as the homework completion as well as the quality of work in their notebooks.

Rena Clark 25:00 So for let’s, you know, you’ve been teaching a long time, like you said, you’re able to adjust in a year and take this all on. So do you have any suggestions to other educators? Maybe we have some newer ones, maybe some more veteran educators who want to begin kind of the shift and focus on their classroom environment.

Sarah Neitz 25:22 You know, it’s always—we like to say, take it simple, right? Try to think of that one thing that you want to do. But the one piece that I really suggest is, how are you inviting your students and opening up your class? Like, how is that opening? What are you doing at the beginning of the hour to start those routines, to show the agenda, to get their planner out, and to connect your students?

To me, that is where I have made sure that even I think if it’s something simple, by building something where you have time to connect with other kids in their class, and maybe a non-academic way, it’s scary, but it gives that time for kids to build those connections with each other, which I think, as teachers, we’re really good at building connections with our kids, but we all need to reflect on, how are we building connections from student to student?

So that is the piece that, you know, what I think if you can build those relationships from student to student, it’s going to make a huge impact in your classroom environment.

Paul Beckermann 26:22 That’s so true. And you know, the more strategies and tools we have to be able to do that, the better. So we’re going to jump into our toolkit.

Transition Music 26:31 Check it out. Check it out. Check it out. Check it out. What’s in the toolkit? Check it out.

Paul Beckermann 26:42 All right. Toolkit time. Winston, why don’t you go first?

Winston Benjamin 26:45 I am going to throw in this philosophical idea about the class, because I think sometimes teachers don’t realize how they can be in a mental space that causes the class to go off the rails.

So sometimes I think thinking about where you are before you get into the class: Did you take your break? Did you go to the bathroom? Did you laugh? What are the ways that you did some mindfulness before you went into your classroom to see your kids as a way to help center and focus yourself? So I like that mindfulness for the teacher approach as we discuss mindfulness for the students.

Paul Beckermann 27:27 Yeah, great point. What about you, Rena?

Rena Clark 27:30 I actually was hysterical as I was opening up Catlin Tucker’s weekly newsletter. I get the weekly newsletter, and in her blog post was all around this. So I loved—I pulled up her articles, and maybe we can link it to this episode.

But there was “Classroom Routines Eliminate Chaos and Confusion”. And she had a lovely blog with just some beginnings. And guess what? It started with, “Begin every class with a welcome routine”. And she has some advice. So, and then another one was like, “Three Strategies that Position Students to Take Responsibility”.

So there are some great little tips that she had in her blog this week, so maybe we’ll link those. But I agree, it says routines, and then always end the classroom at the closing, so it’s not a chaotic ending either.

Paul Beckermann 28:16 Yeah, awesome. I’m kind of dwelling on something that Sarah said earlier about doing the mixer activities with the kids. I just feel like that is such a valuable piece.

I used to do, when I taught speech class, we did like this bingo game. So there’s a bingo card, and the kids had to move around the classroom and get other kids to sign off on descriptors that, you know, that matched them or whatever. And then the kid who filled it up or got the most different kids, you know, we gave him a standing ovation or something.

But I played those games with the kids, and that was so powerful to build that relationship, not only with the kid, but then when the student—the students were interacting with each other, right beside me, interacting with the students. It was like a classroom community. It was a “we” kind of a situation. So do those mixers with the kids. I think that’s such a key.

Sarah, do you have another one you’d like to drop in? You’ve already given us lots of tips, but—

Sarah Neitz 29:12 Oh yeah, there’s, there’s at the beginning of the hour. I always like to have something on the screen, and sometimes there are themes or whatever you want. But there’s two things I want to share.

One is, kids love silly baby videos, like baby animal videos. If you put baby animals on, you have them captivated, or you have them calm in the classroom. Walking in, I have been amazed. I’ve never done that before. Thursdays is “That’s Adorable Thursdays,” and they love those animal videos. So something to do if you’re like, you want to just have them calm down or so forth.

Another resource is a guy named Doug Overton, and that’s “Today’s First Five,” and it’s a newsletter that comes right to your email that gives you, like, either primary or secondary resources, of like memes, of simple check-ins. Like, one day they did a check-in and they showed, like, “Which dad pants are you?” or, you know, just some things to really just put those connecting things out there. And I’ll tell you, every day I go to those to see for a connection, for a meme, for any of those little things you want to add to your presentations.

Paul Beckermann 30:16 I don’t know if I want to know what kind of dad pants I wear.

Rena Clark 30:30 All right? Well, that takes us to our next section, our One Thing.

Transition Music 30:36 It’s time for that one thing. It’s time for that one thing, that one thing.

Rena Clark 30:47 We’ve talked about a lot of different things, so maybe, what’s that one thing that we’re going to take away today? Or that last one thing we want to share? Winston, you want to start?

Winston Benjamin 30:59 Yeah, I love the idea of, what’s your hook? What is the thing that you are actually going to bring the babies into the classroom with? Are you going to give them a chance to relax? Are you going to give them a chance to express who they are? What is the thing that’s going to make the classroom a place that they want to be in? What’s your pull them with you? What’s your hook?

Paul Beckermann 31:23 Very good. And I’m thinking about another thing that Sarah said earlier about this school-wide consistency. I love that the classroom community extends out to a school-wide community, because consistency is part of that structure that kids need. And if everybody’s doing it, it just becomes the culture of the place, and I think that’s super powerful at sticking with

Rena Clark 31:45 me today. And that’s what I was going to say, Paul, but

Paul Beckermann 31:51 we always have the same one, Rena. We think on the same line.

Rena Clark 31:57 And but the thing is, sometimes you don’t have the power to make that happen school-wide, so you can be in control. But I just—that routines are important, even for adults, so even for yourself.

So I love that Sarah was reflecting on herself and, like, what—how am I even going through my routine? How is my brain? We use something different, especially with the elementary kids. We had the hand gestures, like, “Are you in your thinking brain?” My fist. “Am I,” and I start to open it, okay? “And then, or am I flipped?” So it helps us understand where we are.

But if I’m in my thinking brain, then I know I can make better decisions. And so it’s good just to be able to check on yourself, and taking that 10-second breath can—and really, three-second breath can have a dramatic outcome on the thing I say to a student or another adult. So I think it’s important that self-reflection.

Paul Beckermann 32:50 What would you like to leave us with, Sarah?

Sarah Neitz 32:54 I thought of an analogy while preparing and getting ready for today. Hammond, she talks about making that first pancake. You know, she talks about that when you make pancakes, a lot of times, the first one just doesn’t turn out right. It’s not shaped right. It’s dark on one side, light on the other. Sometimes it’s the one you give to the dog.

And I think in cooking, we’re like, “Okay, no biggie. I’ll just make another pancake”. But when it comes to our practice and our craft, sometimes we don’t give ourselves a break to try it again.

And so that is kind of on the back of my mind as I’m trying all of this new stuff after 26 years of teaching: “Okay, Sarah, it didn’t work. How can we do it next time?” and not say, “Oh, failed. I’m done”. It’s just that idea that it’s my first pancake, I’m going to try it again.

And so that is kind of the piece. I want everybody to give themselves grace and allow that, and allow to ask, to talk to kids. “Why do you think that went well? Why didn’t it go well?” And so just being real and being willing to try again.

Winston Benjamin 33:51 I really appreciate you modeling a learning focus mentality, right? As in, like, failing forward is an important way that as teachers, that we need to support our students.

And I thank you so much for helping us think through the importance of intentionality when it comes to establishing your classroom environment. What are the little pieces that you might not have thought about? What are the little things that you may not be aware of? What are the ways that you need to keep yourself mentally ready for the conversation, and how do you use the digital space as an important aspect of the whole?

So I really appreciate your time. Thank you so much for helping us think through what are the key things that we have to do to help all of our students feel that they’ve been seen. Thank you so much for your time, Sarah, and have a good night.

Sarah Neitz 34:40 Thank you. You too.

Rena Clark 34:42 Thanks for listening to Unpacking Education.

Winston Benjamin 34:45 We invite you to visit us at AVID Open Access.org where you can discover resources to support student agency, equity, and academic tenacity to create a classroom for future-ready learners.

Paul Beckermann 34:59 We’ll be back here next Wednesday for a fresh episode of Unpacking Education, and remember,

Rena Clark 35:05 Go forth and be awesome.

Winston Benjamin 35:08 Thank you for all you do.

Paul Beckermann 35:09 You make a difference.