Vrain Waves: Teaching Conversations with Minds Shaping Education

Wrapping up Season 8 with three outstanding St. Vrain educators who continually seek to refine their practice. We don't need to redo everything every year! Small intentional shifts in language, error-analysis protocols, and reflection make a huge difference in these classrooms. All of which directly translates to inspiring students to own their learning and stay curious. Smart teaching, stronger learning at all ages!

We are highlighting our incredible St. Vrain Valley AI team in this episode, and their work over the last three years has resulted in an Ethical, Transparent, Human-centered, Opportunity-focused, and Safe AI framework. Keeping people, not tools, at the center of this work is the priority, and let's ask ourselves, "Will AI help our students grow, or just get it done?" "Is it a value-add and elevation of the content, or just an unnecessary extra step?" Tune in for some thoughtful conversation around our AI work and how we keep grounded in the ever-changing world of education and technology!

Tune into one of our favorite conversations ever with master teacher Wendy Schuller, who grounds her scaffolding principles in empathy for her students. What would I need as a 5th-grader in this moment?, How am I using my data to determine what my students need? and What is the endgame for pulling the scaffolding back? are her guiding questions on a daily basis. Observing, responding, and bridging for the win!

The perfect follow-up to our episode last month with Dr. Catlin Tucker, three rockstar St. Vrain Valley educators give us a peek into how they're using AI as an enhancement tool, as inspiration and a thought-partner for students, a coach for themselves, and the ultimate brainstorming generator. Tune in to get inspired yourself and start to embrace our new AI reality!

We're wrapping up Season 7 with two master St. Vrain teachers, Joylynn Boardman and Brian Huey, who continue to refine their practice, create relevant learning experiences, and champion their students! No matter how long we've been in education, adapting, tweaking, and reflecting are the keys to sustaining student engagement. But the most crucial piece for ALL students is, of course, inspiring them to believe they CAN succeed. Tune in for one of our favorite conversations this year and have a great summer!

It's time to connect the Physical and the Education in the classroom. Nothing is in a silo in our world. We are teaching the whole student, so connecting mind and body in our instruction benefits everyone. Incorporating movement in our classrooms creates engagement and builds attention, which helps content stick. Tune in as we chat with two @SVVSD physical education teachers who also teach academic content and how they see these two important worlds complementing each other.

Looking to build agency and standards mastery in your classroom? Then look no further than learning progressions! Tune in as we say goodbye to 2024 and chat with our very own @BennerBrainiacs. She motivates her students to self-assess on standards, visualize their goals more clearly, and achieve true mastery using learning progressions in her classroom.

Happy October to our Vrain Waves listeners! The perfect follow-up to our first episode with Brandon Slade is our conversation with these two rockstar St. Vrain educators, secondary special education teacher, Sarah Patton, and elementary counselor, Mike Laurent. Tune in as we talk about go-to strategies for not just students with needs, but the whole student body. We can't say it enough...what's essential for some is good for all and that includes us adults, too. It's not too late in the year to put some simple routines in place that will pay out huge dividends in your classrooms. What will be the lead domino that you set up tomorrow?!

Wrapping up Season 6 with two rockstar teachers who show us what it looks like to reframe Assessment in the classroom. The key to engaging students is not tricky; it's building intrinsic motivation through authentic assessment and grading practices! Tune in as our very own Sam LaFever and Gideon Matchey unpack how they use explicit assessment strategies to develop mastery and shift the cognitive load to their students!

March Madness and the solar eclipse might be over but the excitement of Spring continues! Tune in to hear from our very own @missluker as she speaks to shifting the epicenter of learning, replicating yourself, and creating more powerful feedback loops. How do we do this & still ensure quality instruction? Blended Learning! Dive in, build your students' agency, your own agency, the collective efficacy, and honor what it means to be a learner!

If the instructional door you chose to open isn't working, find a different door! We can hold high expectations for our students AND meet them where they are at the same time! Tune in as our second married teaching couple, Ken and Kendra Versoi drop amazing and tangible strategies for effective facilitation (hint, hint it starts with Relationships).

Think that the Science of Learning practices are only for older students? Not true! The learning party invitation can and should be extended to all grades, Kindergarten through 12th. Tune in to our first mini-wave episode of Season 6 to hear how master (and married) St. Vrain Valley teachers, Arianne Tasker and Adam Wellington, incorporate the Science of Learning in their 1st-grade and high school classrooms. It's simpler than you think!

Feedback is too important to only talk about once! We return to one of our favorite topics with two of our own St. Vrain Valley teachers, @HeatherLea303 and @Janis Vogelsberg, to hear how they model feedback in their classrooms, give explicit instruction around the tricky peer feedback loop, and inspire students to shift away from the external motivation of grades and instead use feedback for intrinsic continuous improvement. Tip for Success: Your students should be giving you feedback too!