New Vodcast Series for Educator Reflection During NTI

First, we must honor the date of this entry!  Not only is today Star Wars Day, but it is the start of Teacher Appreciation Week.  Has there ever been a school year where all teachers have not easily earned the rank of Jedi Knight?  I can't imagine one.  Thanks to all of the compassionate teachers out there who strive to innovate in these challenging non-traditional instructional (NTI) times...and that includes a nod toward the parents and guardians who are co-teaching these lessons at home.

It was an awareness of our Shelby educators who are innovating during NTI that inspired Lora Shields, our district Staff Developer.   Knowing that some hard-won professional learning was happening out there, she proposed a vodcast that could both capture this moment in time as well as share the learning with others.   As we teamed together to make this happen, we shaped the focus of the vodcast series to be guided by two questions:  what new tool or strategy are you currently learning to use during NTI, and in what ways will that transform your teaching when you return to the brick and mortar of your school buildings in the future?

Thus, the vodcast series "Shelby Speaks: Looking Forward" was launched, sharing our facilitated interviews with the creative educators of our district.  As of today, over half of our recorded episodes have been published (see the playlist on SCPS's YouTube channel), and we have already earned acclaim from other education leaders and even local television news:

Love these! “There’s a difference between a project and PBL...” Well-done, @shelbycountysch team! @loratshields @watsonedtech @DugleSusan @rltmartin @JamesNeihof https://t.co/QeXN3zsBfb

— Jonathan Vander Els (@jvanderels) April 26, 2020

Loving these Shelby Speaks series led by @watsonedtech ... this one is on how PBL & exhibitions are still happening for 8th grade, just digital now! Nice work Casey, LaPorsha, & Sarah!! Awesome creativity and innovation with digital tools. Well done. #KyEdNext https://t.co/AWgmjvCLqx

— Dr. Justin Bathon (@justinbathon) April 28, 2020

Teachers @shelbycountysch share how online learning lessons will transform their classrooms: https://t.co/iKki6dsMKf | @SaraSideryWDRB pic.twitter.com/pEwGw1ne0H

— WDRB News (@WDRBNews) April 24, 2020

In particular, I'd like to highlight three episodes that address a few of my favorite educational topics: project based learning and libraries.

In Episode 3, Martha Layne Collins art teacher Lukas Allison talks about how important cross-content PBL and design thinking is to his lesson planning (9:43):

In Episode 5, West Middle School teachers Casey Robinson, Sarah Buchanan, and LaPorsha Jackson talk about the process of moving PBL exhibitions to an online space (12:26):

Lastly, in Episode 10, Julie Webb (Shelby County High School) and Emily Northcutt (Marnel C. Moorman, our K-8 school) discuss how librarians and libraries play an essential role in NTI (18:20):

Thanks to all of the educators worldwide who are attempting the Herculean task of continuing student learning at home, even when our students face substantial inequities of Internet access, food insecurities, and understandable anxieties about our unprecedented present.