[00:00:00] Welcome back to the triple T podcast. I am so glad you're here as we continue this journey through the different areas of my teaching career. So in this third intro episode, I'm taking you back to a time when I stepped out of the classroom and into the role of a math specialist. Becoming a math specialist was a big shift for me.

I loved the job because it gave me a lot of opportunities to meet with teachers across all the grade levels. I got to work really closely with administration and bonus. The demands outside of school were way lighter and that freed me up to get my master's degree during that time. So while I did miss being in the classroom, this role was really rewarding. And I think it just helped me better understand the different needs that different teachers have.

And I think. That time truly made me a better curriculum creator later on. So today, I'm [00:01:00] very excited to introduce you to someone who has made a huge impact on me during this time. And that is Lili Reyna. Lili was known by everyone as the creative teacher, but who all also always got results. Anytime you pass by her classroom, you could feel the energy, the fun, the learning, it was always happening. She was so impressive that any time admin talked about her, to me, they called her Lili freaking Reyna.

Before I became a math specialist, we taught different grade levels. So I really didn't get to see her in action that much. But my role as a specialist allowed me to spend a lot more time in our classroom. And then I was able to learn so much just from observing her. So in this episode, we're going to talk about creativity, passion, and dedication that Lili brings to her teaching.

And I'll share some of the lessons I picked up from being in her class.

So, whether you're looking for a burst of inspiration or some [00:02:00] practical tips to bring more creativity into your own teaching, you're in the right place. Thanks for joining us and let's get started.

So welcome Lili to the podcast. We're so happy to have you here. So why don't you start just by telling us a little bit about yourself? Hi, Cassi. So nice to see you again and hear from you. We were so close as coworkers. It's nice to finally just get together and just be, you know, educators talking about education again.

Well, my name is Lili Reyna, and I am a third grade dual language teacher presently, but have mostly been a third grade bilingual teacher, and mostly in the same district where I met Cassi in Klein, Texas. I'm working at a fantastic school called Northampton Elementary that just reopened after being modernized, and it's been great.

Thank you [00:03:00] Awesome. Okay. So we met at Mahaffey and we both were there at its first year in existence. And I think a lot of teachers throughout the district wanted to go to Mahaffey. I know I really wanted to go there and was very happy that I got selected. So I was curious why you decided to go to Mahaffey.

Mahaffey was like a step out of a comfort zone. Another coworker at the school where I was and I had both applied together because we wanted to just branch out and it was like the big district buzz as the new school, the innovative school. The one where, you know, you could be creative and technologically adventurous and for out of the box type teachers where we never really fit in and the present campus where we were, we were comfortable.

We were left alone at best. And ignored, which was great. We were fine with that because we could be the kind [00:04:00] of teachers we wanted to be at the disdain of everybody else who thought we were just crazy. But we wanted to step out into that unknown and really be adventuresome and see what would come of it.

And it just became heaven when we were selected to go as well. And we were just reflecting yesterday. We talk on the phone. We still talk on the phone every day on the way to work as we're driving, cause we have a long commute. And so we bounce ideas off of each other and we. still talk about that.

But we were reminiscing especially about the previous school where we were shackled to old school ways and a lot of really old fashioned teaching and mindset. And we were so grateful for where we are today. Yeah, I have a different story. I was just excited for the technology and the excitement and the buzz of it all and the creativity.

I just feel like it was such an amazing experience to get to be a part of that because we had such great leadership and we had. [00:05:00] Not only did we have the opportunity to do that. We were really encouraged to think out of the box and to use the technology and all of that. One thing I was remembering, one of the first times that I worked with you was when you were, remember how we had those unconference things or what were those called something like Scotty PD just leveraging our expertise amongst each other. I love that. Yeah. So tell the audience a little bit about that. Cause I remember us working together on one of those PDs. Yeah we would have on the fly PDs during faculty meetings and it was just like, I forgot what that was called, but it was like a two second PD where you would just stand up in a faculty meeting if you had something cool to share.

And the cool thing about it was that everybody else there was willing to hear it and to try it and excited about those things. And I think once I shared about how I scan on your phone, just, scans documents that you want to share with parents or specialists or [00:06:00] APS or other teammates quickly. The longer ones were held after school and announced, and you could travel and choose the ones that you wanted to go to one that I was excited to attend was yours, which was punchless because I had no idea what a punch list was.

I envisioned like, a hole puncher. Or somebody punching someone else. I didn't know what it was. And so I'm like, what is this? And it was what is famously now known as a personalized learning path. Using technology other components to but also technology and you had this beautiful presentation that was Wizard of Oz theme and I just thought it's so magical and I was just astounded at like videos of how you implemented it in your class and had that type of classroom management where everything was free.

Flowing and every kid knew exactly what to do. And you were teaching small groups, but also using [00:07:00] technology to know what the other kids were doing in so many ways, like with Chromebooks, with iPads, with the with the interactive panel across the room, it was just amazing to me. Oh, You said all that sweet stuff.

And the one thing I remember is. The punch list that was derived from my husband who is in construction. So when you're done, you know, you have like, he calls it a punch list. It's like the checklist of everything that needs to be done. So that's where the thought came from. But then when I designed, like the actual checklist that we printed off, I put boxing gloves.

On the top, and now I think back, that's like so inappropriate. So that's where I got the image I wasn't too far off. So another thing that we both had in common was that we were both math specialists at Mahaffey. So I was the math specialist the first year that we had one, or not the first year we had one, but the first year out of us two. And then I remember just being in that [00:08:00] role. I got to go into your classroom a lot and I get to go into a lot of classrooms, but there were some that I just wanted to go into because they were so interesting and yours was always that one.

I remember. Going in there one time and you were teaching oh, a whole group lesson about problem solving and it was a more challenging math problem on the board and they were raising their hands and taking a risk. A lot of them were getting it wrong, but they weren't scared to try.

And I was always just amazed at how you had a classroom environment where everyone was willing to take a risk and to ask a question and to get involved with it. And you even had some like language barriers going on in that classroom as well because it was a bilingual class. So what do you think it was that helped the students to feel comfortable and brave and take risks in your classroom.

Kind of an expectation that I lay out at the beginning of the year, like day one, is there are no outs [00:09:00] and you are important. And so what the students learn in the past grade levels and it becomes just a learned habit, is that I'll just stay silent When she calls on me and make a face and she'll call on someone else or the smart kid will jump in and answer for me, they are told the expectation is when I call on you, you don't get to have an out or pass.

You will answer. You will own your success. And the rest of the class learns the word. What is their role? Their role is to be supportive and say, come on, you can do it, you can do it, or just stay quiet. If you don't want to be supportive, just stay quiet and be light, but you are expected to be supportive in my class.

And that kid is encouraged to try, but they're not left frozen or crying. I scaffold. And so even with the language barriers, Or with any other mental barrier, I will be there. They know I'm there and I will scaffold. I'll never tell them the answer, [00:10:00] but I will allow them to come to their answer on their own with a little bit of my support and questioning without giving them the answer because they are going to feel like a million bucks when they own their success and the class's expectation is to celebrate them and scream yay when they do, when they are successful.

And that's why they're just like, okay, but it takes the fear out of being called on. Say, no, I'm not going to let them fail. And when, and if like orally and participation wise, and many times. And past years when I'm told, oh, you have to teach in small groups. It bumps me out. Because I'm like a circus clown.

I need my crowd. And I've taught with other teachers that are equally effective, and the proof is in the pudding and in the data, that they're excellent small group teachers. They're amazing at small group. I stink at small group because I love my crowd, because I leverage the strengths of the [00:11:00] crowd.

And. I feel I get the best learning from kids when it's that cooperative and that supportive and includes Everybody because there's no such thing as kid that knows everything About every single kid in that room and doesn't have anything to learn so to me Whole group and leveraging everybody's experience knowledge background knowledge and stories and sharing and participating in their success In each other's success is so much more valuable, at least in my teaching style.

Absolutely. And I think the reason that your whole group teaching is effective. Is that you're including everyone and you have the expectation that everyone is going to participate because what makes a whole group lesson not effective is the students who aren't participating. We all know that in just a few minutes, the high kids can get a whole group lesson and the the average kids can get it, but it's the [00:12:00] lower kids that really need you to bring them into the fold.

And they really need the support of the rest of the class. the students and probably even more opportunities to engage and talk about it and try it out. So I love that. What an amazing answer. So you actually gave up your class and moved into the math specialist role. Once I left Mahaffey and I was thinking about how excited we both were to get those jobs.

I think as teachers, there's not always a whole lot of ways to advance in your career. You can become a, an assistant principal. You can become a principal or you can become a specialist in some kind of way. And that's what I was thinking. you know, looking forward to about being the math specialist.

I'm sure you were too, but you're back in the classroom. So obviously, you know, you missed being a teacher. But I was curious what your thoughts were for the listeners on what is maybe the best things about being a specialist if they're [00:13:00] considering trying to get that promotion. Or maybe it's not even a promotion, a lateral move versus you know, being in the classroom.

Like, what were your favorite things about it, and what were your least favorite things about it? Moving to be a specialist was only because you left, and there wasn't anybody that could do it better. Then you could. And mostly my first reason was because I wanted to protect our creative environment.

And I didn't want an outside person that wasn't a teacher at that school to come in and change anyone and to change our environment. And that Top to bottom way that a lot of leadership is able to do. It's crazy. But the people at the top really do set the tone for the campus. We were lucky enough to have the leadership that made you want to work harder, longer, do more.

And so I wanted to Keep that go that momentum in our campus going because you certainly energize people to work harder, longer and do more because they had [00:14:00] you to support them and their creative endeavors. And so I wanted to continue that after you left us as a specialist. And I, and honestly, it was because I loved our coworkers.

I love them so much. I wanted to create for them. I wanted to organize for them. I wanted to like, I took what your words to me were. I wanted to make your, I wanted to make the teacher job easier and flow better without having to create product or organize anything and, you know, crunch the data and organize the data.

I wanted to do that for them because I wanted to help them be who they were. But then I found that was the best part of it was that I found so many people appreciated having their whole year organized they had their they appreciated having their essential standards highlighted and little assessments attached to that for reteaching purposes.

They loved having just everything that the district required of them [00:15:00] at their fingertips. And which is what it was something that I would want someone to do for me. Also, my favorite thing was meeting every newcomer. I would get an indication an alarm on my computer when we would get a brand new student.

So I would go meet them before they even walked into their homeroom and give them a screener. And I would be able to give the teacher. In a snapshot what this kid knew because as a teacher, I would appreciate that I would be like, well, welcome, honey What do you know? And I would be able to see it on a piece of paper and Yeah, it would be great because I would know where to start without wasting any time with that particular child and meet their needs immediately So I enjoyed that part But what made me go back to the classroom after one year was that at Christmas, my year of being a specialist, everybody was having their Christmas party that day before Christmas vacation.

And I was in my office crying, going, I don't have a party. [00:16:00] I don't have a Christmas party right now. And nobody cares.

Because I enjoy throwing the coolest Christmas party for my students. They're usually from very low SES backgrounds. And I love it since time began. I go through the trouble of building everybody a naked gingerbread house and having them collect all kinds of candy and I collect all kinds of candy and I pipe bags till midnight so they have a piping bag of frosting and they have the best time and it just is so it's more of a Christmas thing.

Skip to me to see their joy taking this candy, collapsing with candy and frosting home. And it was just something that I would just, I, oh my gosh, it just ruined me. So I was like, well, I told our principal, I was like, well. I being a specialist is fine. I enjoyed it. Kindergarten. [00:17:00] Small groups were rough because I'm old and I don't have that kind of energy for the GT kindergartners that none of the teachers wanted.

They were like, please get these little kids out of here and entertain them. And I'm like, okay, I'll give them enrichment. That was rough. But I was like, It's fine. I enjoyed teaching all the grade levels, fifth grade especially, and I didn't know that about myself that I would enjoy teaching smaller fifth grade girls and the kids who had needed remediations.

I loved it. But yeah, I missed having my little classroom family and my direct impact more. I get that too. So it's, I'm sure it's no surprise to anybody here that you were the teacher of the year, the last year that I was in a school system. So another thing about Lili is.

She had a nickname that the principal, the AP, everybody, her name was not just Lili Reyna. It was Lili [00:18:00] freaking Reyna. And anytime the principal talked about her, it was literally Lili freaking Reyna. She was that amazing. And you guys are going to see when we start talking about her. Her creativity here in a minute, but but I was so excited and you were so deserving of that.

And I actually got to know a little bit ahead of time because I had to make all the certificates. The poker face. Oh my gosh. I had no clue that you knew. So that was super exciting. How did you feel that day? Like, The most honored I've ever felt, and I do remember we both told each other, I voted for you.

We're big fans of each other, but Cassi won first, so she deserved it. Well, funny story, Paige told me later that she didn't know how I could have possibly beat you that first year, and then you know how, you know how she is. assistant principal. [00:19:00] She is super blunt and funny, but she told me that. And she was, then she was like, sorry, not sorry.

Oh my God. Yes. She's the lady that would walk into your PLC and say, all right, you hoes let's make this training quick. I don't have time, any canceled meetings, my favorite meeting. She was one of a kind. I can't believe she told you that. That's horrible. I was like, yeah, I get it. No, not at all. Oh my gosh.

Well, being even nominated at that school, Was the highest honor ever because like I don't think anybody who hasn't been in that school would ever understand because The principal took over a year to staff the school and she had told people I don't want okay I want the best and I certainly didn't feel like the best because I'm just me But when I walked into that [00:20:00] meeting dinner that she had so we could all meet each other and we all got to say a little bit about ourselves.

I knew I was in a room of greatness. Everybody was so, was literally the best. And I felt like, no the I, these people are also amazing. So even being nominated was the biggest honor ever because I could be at a different school, but it certainly wasn't filled to the brim with. Like, amazing, qualified, technologically advanced Google certified trainers, APs, these were all the teachers that were there that were so amazing in their own ways that to be in even in their company was the honor, much less be the teacher of the year.

It was very touching to hear because what a teacher of the year is a special honor because it's not that you're your principal's favorite. It's that your peers nominate you and vote for you and the [00:21:00] nominations are done anonymously, but you get to have the list of everything that the other teachers said about you.

And I still have that in an album that to me is just priceless because it's like, I'm so glad that I had a positive impact and helped or supported or did anything you thought was valuable because I think you're amazing. So yeah, it was such an honor, such an honor, best day of my life after having a child and getting married, you know, the givens.

I do think it's really important to acknowledge people that are doing a great job. And, you know, just for the teachers that are listening, even if it's just the teacher next door, Or the new teacher on the team. Everyone needs to feel like they're doing a good job. And especially those that are trying to do a good job.

So, I want to talk a little bit about, to me, your super strength as a teacher. And that is your [00:22:00] creativity. You are hands down the most creative teacher that I have ever worked with. No, I'm pointing at her. No, you are. My creativity does not hold a candle to yours. So, there are some things that I remember, you know, you doing like pancakes in the morning and even after I wasn't even working anymore.

I was helping you a little bit with your fear factor test prep, activity, and it was just so creative and fun. So I thought maybe you could share a couple of your favorite things that you do with your students that, you're not seeing other teachers do. Some of my favorite things and it's like things that are accessible things that are everywhere and so I would want to tell people not about the things that I would have to stay up all night like piping bags for gingerbread house.

That's not accessible nor is it reasonable. It's just my thing. But I think never underestimate the magic of a balloon. [00:23:00] It's probably not my favorite, but it's the easiest way to have a captive audience. Test prep, you just throw those little test questions inside of a balloon, blow it up in a green balloon and hang it from the ceiling and call it a booger.

I mean, that was in our fear factor activity that you helped me with because, you know, word problems are a booger. So you give them a toothpick and randomly call their name and they stab the balloon and out pops the the word problem and you just make a good way of having the kids all accountable for trying to beat the kid trying to solve the word problem so they can pop the next one.

balloon. I mean, I don't think teachers know just how much a kid wants to pop a balloon. That's my biggest thing is engagement. Like I was mentioning before the circus clown in the rain, I put myself in my kids shoes and I'm like, if I'm, if As a teacher, I'm bored. I can't imagine what that kid is going through.

So there's just that little Charlie Brown [00:24:00] wah teacher. So, even last year, I was under some constraints because we were under new management at the school where I was. We still did test prep games on the fly that no one would notice if they came in and didn't approve of. Like, I just put together a slime ball with some glue and borax that morning and drew a target on the whiteboard and they just had to throw the slime ball on and it got gross when it fell on the, it's fine, but the kids didn't care.

If they got the question right, they got the throw the slime ball at the target and get whatever points they got. It is that simple. And it was something that I just whipped up during the planning period and on the fly. Another favorite would have to be oh, The whoopy cushion, and just putting a whoopy cushion on a chair and having a kid, you know, grab a little water balloon, inflate it on the floor, but they can't use their hands.

They gotta use their knees. They [00:25:00] dip down, grab the balloon with their knees and jump over to a chair. And they just have to get the balloon onto the chair. But with all the static electricity, it's really challenging. And so that little balloon goes everywhere and sometimes pops out between their legs and sometimes pops out behind their little booties.

And it's really funny. And sometimes they're shy about popping it, but they love that game. Another one that I just came up with for test prep was the mama bird feeds the baby bird. So I sit a kid across the room in their chair with a blindfold, and their job is just to hang out and lean their head back with their mouth open, where mama bird goes to a plate of jelly beans, but can only use a spoon in their mouth, and they have to dig up one jelly bean into the spoon, hands and then they got to walk across the room without spilling the jelly being off the spoon and they got to feed their baby bird who's just sitting back blindfolded going.

So how did they get fed? Did they have to answer a [00:26:00] question or? Well, yeah, they get to be mama bird or baby bird if they answer a test question correctly. So that really encourages participation. Everybody. Works out their problem and make sure it's correct because they can't be either baby bird or mama bird if it's wrong So that ensures accountability But it's like that is so much more fun than saying I better say you work on your paper I mean and that would just I would feel like the most horrible person in the world if that kid went home and said my teacher yelled at me all day long about strategies and I hate strategies And if a kid says, Oh my gosh, we laughed so hard and that's another way I have engagement.

I really do videotape all those moments because a parent and I put it on the parent sharing app because that really gets your parents on board. My parents love me because I give them many videos of their children smiling and laughing and having [00:27:00] fun at school and being successful. And I think there's no better way to win a parent over than to Constance have that stream of photos of their classmates and their child smiling at school and having a good time and wanting to go to school and showing off what they learn.

They also have lots of chances for performances, which I put a backdrop of like, you know, and so they've been practicing their fluency, but to them, all they're doing is performing for their mom or their dad. I love that. I love that so much. I can relate even with my daughter being in college, like I, I'm always looking at the website.

Am I going to go to get a glimpse of her? There's not very many people in her school cause she's in a conservatory. So any picture, there's a good chance I'm going to get a glimpse of her in that picture. Yeah. What do they do when they're away from you and you're, working hard at work and you trust that this teacher's like, you know, doing something with your child and they're actually enjoying what they're doing.

It's an answer to every parent's prayer, but also [00:28:00] I leverage the fun with learning and enrichment and engagement and participation and joyfulness. So, yeah, how do you get inspired with little. Games and activities like Baby Bird or like Balloon, like, I mean, what made you think Baby Bird, Mama Bird?

I have no clue. Just thinking, what is there on my desk? I have jelly beans. I have a blindfold from a pinata. There's some spoons, plastic spoons I use for lunch, you know, it's just looking at, and the slime ball thing came from, oh, I have a lot of glue. So we have a lot of glue left over. We just did science, you know, it's Just looking around you and thinking, how else can I use that balloon?

How else can I use this ball? I used post-Its in the shape of like a house shoe, and the kids all had a running joke about a chola , and it's a running joke about Hispanic kids get disciplined with the mom throwing this house shoe at them. [00:29:00] And so I just drew a kid on chart paper and blindfolded them and said, okay, pin the house shoe on the kid.

On the kid's head . And that became a game and it was a post-it and chart paper. Basically, and the kids just had such a great time pinning the house shoe on the kid. I love that and I love that they're just little things that are fun because, I've seen a lot of teachers they try to build engagement into their class and do fun things and they end up, like finding like Kahoot!

and then they play Kahoot! and the kids love it but then tomorrow they play Kahoot! again and then it's like every day is Kahoot! when they could be doing Baby Bird or Chunkle on the kids.

It is. It is like being the ringmaster of your class. It is, but it also helps with engagement and it helps with classroom management because those kids are not going to misbehave if they will not participate in what's fun. And so [00:30:00] you've already built in joy, you've built in your classroom management you've set the tone for a culture of a positive community.

That supports each other. So no one's gonna let their friend misbehave and not take part in that day's game or whatever. The kids not gonna do their homework because that would exclude them for go up for playing the game that goes with the answers to the homework. So even When you can infuse like your day with some fun, it helps you too, because I have never laughed so hard as I have when these kids start playing these silly, silly games that are, you know, you do have to think, okay, are they going to get hurt?

Is anyone going to choke? No, they're not going to choke. And sometimes I even tell them, promise me you're not allergic. Yes. Okay. I make sure they're not. There's no chocolate or nuts involved in any of the games, but I'm like telling them, please, if you choke, I'm just, I'll never forgive you. Don't [00:31:00] show, don't trip.

Don't hurt yourself, please. And it's never happened. I've taught for 27 years and had silly things. You know, in my classroom since the beginning and thank goodness nothing bad has ever happened as a result of that. We've had just joy and learning happening. Okay, so let's change topics a little bit and focus on your ability to work with students with more limited English.

Have you always taught bilingual or ESL? I didn't even go to school to teach bilingual or ESL. I went to school and graduated as a reading specialist. And that might be funny to you because we've known each other as only exclusively math and science teachers. And I'll come back to that in a second, but when I first went, when I graduated school with my reading specialist degree what was really needed where I [00:32:00] lived in Southern Texas, you know, people found out.

Oh, wait a minute, you're a reading specialist, but do you speak Spanish? And I'm like, yes, I do. Well, we got a better job for you and you're not certified, but details, we'll take care of that later. We got a job and it pays more. How about that? And I'm just like, you know, little baby teacher, me going job.

Yes. Oh, more money. Okay. And it was 26, 000 at the time. That shows how old I am. And that was the more money. And I was like, woo, that was a lot. Otherwise it'd be even less. So back in 1920, man, I really had to pay teachers. So I became a bilingual teacher. I student taught general gen ed third grade. And I just was just, I was put into a second grade bilingual classroom and I taught third grade gen ed because that's all I knew how to teach.

And if I had little [00:33:00] Spanish speakers, we just got through it together. But as the years went on, I learned and learned how to become better at being a bilingual teacher. I fell in love with having that extra layer of Meeting that need. It wasn't just content. It was, oh my goodness, you know, learning Spanish to an American is a luxury, but learning English as a immigrant's child is a necessity.

And so it really made sense. Being that teacher more meaningful that I wasn't doing a job. It was like a mission, a missions assignment. And it really added that layer of service and it's something that I couldn't do without, like, I know the district, both of us were in, that was a big word is being a servant leader and doing a service to children, and that's exactly why it wasn't worded that way at the time.

But I really thought my job's not just. necessary and important. [00:34:00] It's a matter of whether this kid is going to acquire the language they need to be successful in life also. So it really added a layer of, and like what the teacher needs what most teachers consider their paycheck is how they fill their hearts, how they feed their soul with their work and the kid's success.

So that's how I became a bilingual teacher. So I think there's a misconception that if you're a bilingual teacher, it's a little easier because everyone in your classroom is probably speaking the same language. And I think other teachers that are like, maybe just have one or two students that don't are a little bit overwhelmed by those one or two but in actuality, you had students that, a lot of English and a little Spanish.

You had students that spoke no English and all Spanish. You have just the gamut. It's not, you know, one, it's not a classroom of people speaking the same language, so I feel like you are an [00:35:00] absolute expert on how to reach students at varying levels within the class. So what would you tell a teacher that maybe only has one student in their class?

That is an English language learner or two, you know, how do you reach them when you don't speak their language? It's a matter of comprehensible input. And that's like a buzzword, but it's also very true. For instance, right now I'm teaching dual language, which means I have Caucasian children, African American children, and Hispanic bilingual children in my classroom.

And every week. I teach either English or I teach Spanish and then the next week I teach Spanish. And when I teach English, I don't know Spanish. And when I teach in Spanish, I don't know English. And it's like a dual, two way immersion. So it's been eye opening because I know how to teach the English learner.

[00:36:00] Teaching the English speaking Spanish learner has been a challenge until just this past week it came, it dawned upon me, and this is a bit of truth for the teacher that may have just one English learner in their class. It was scaffolding and comprehensible input. I had, for instance, I had a Caucasian English only speaking child, but has been in this program since kindergarten.

He, I, or Thinking may have another learning disability, which makes language acquisition in another language very difficult. I know that from teaching Spanish speakers who have this learning disability and have struggled in learning another language like English. So I know this is a common learning disability side effect, I would think.

Just a challenge. And I noticed that he really avoided, got nervous went to the bathroom for an hour when Spanish week came about. [00:37:00] And it really opened my eyes that I had to work really, really hard to make the Spanish comprehensible to this English only speaker who has been exposed to Spanish for three years in school or two and a half.

So, I started using the same things for him that I would do for the Spanish speaking children that would help them learn English. So, just having supports, using a lot of, these supports work both ways. Using a lot of pictures, a lot of gestures, a lot of, like I was saying earlier in Jess, a clown, but you do almost have to pantomime while you're talking your words.

Like, another ESL friend I had, she had, I used to call them her ESL hands because you had to stand back five feet or you'd get hit with her hand, but she wasn't trying to hit you. She was just expressing and using gestures. So gesturing with your hands, speaking, Simplifying the way you talk [00:38:00] instead of rattling off with idioms, maybe not using as many idioms.

And when you use idioms, break them down and say, this means, okay, don't put all your eggs in one basket. Do you know what that means? And usually you'll get the same response from any kid. Huh. And so just saying, You know, putting all your eggs in one basket using your one hand and the other, putting the eggs in the basket means you're counting on something to happen before it actually does.

It takes a lot of energy and a lot of Oh, let me Google image that for you. It's worth the time. It is worth the time to have the Google image time. It's worth the time to invest in clearing up what you're talking about and really being mindful of how, of what words you're using when talking, when speaking, when communicating, especially if you're communicating content, like something new in math or science, it would be great.

If you know, don't use idioms, just use the content. Yeah. Word walls are really [00:39:00] great. Kid built word walls. What I have my class doing right now, and I just thought of it. It's one of those. Oh, you know, I use my resources and use that thing over there. They were used to their English words being on the word wall in blue and their Spanish words being on the word wall in red.

So, red being one of my not favorite colors. There's red and blue and dual language classrooms everywhere. And so. There was no way around it. I said, can I use pink? They said, no, they're used to red and blue being the codes for Spanish and English. And my children were, I was introducing them to cognates or reintroducing them.

I have no doubts their teacher taught them that, but they always do that. She didn't teach us that. So, I was reintroducing cognates, words that are the same in English and Spanish, and this is important for all teachers to really highlight if they have English learners in their room of any language, that a lot of our words in English are derived from Latin, and these Latin words create a lot of Spanish [00:40:00] words, were used to create a lot of Spanish words, so sometimes our English and Spanish have words that are similar.

So, But very, you know, there is the occasion when you do get a word that's a direct cognate that's exactly spelled exactly the same in English and Spanish. So they were keen on that and they would take cognates that were similar. Like, I can't think of one right now, but Oh, sign and signal.

So sign would be in blue and signal would be in red. But when they came across the word like hospital, that's spelled exactly the same in English and Spanish, they used a purple marker to put it on an index card. Because I told them, What's red and blue when put together? And they said purple, they all knew that.

And so I'm like, let's use the purple marker. So now their cognate wall has the red and blue words, but it also has the purple words, which helps the English learners learn and it helps the Spanish learners learn. [00:41:00] And it's just, it helps their English skills too, not even English acquisition, but just.

Learning those root words and prefixes and suffixes and language and how it builds what we, you know, our language today. They also have Greek and Latin time. Every week we choose a Greek and Latin word from a set that I compile and they go through that. Little Latin root or the Greek root and they generate other words and they have come up with, you know, purple words from there too.

So that's cool to see. They're going to start making up their own words. Yeah, but they'll make sense or they'll be able to read a medicine bottle. Why do I know all these medical terms? I just feel like we could just talk forever because I feel like you know everything about teaching and you're such a.

High caliber teacher for anyone who's [00:42:00] worked with you is blessed to have gotten to work with you and all that you can teach. them and the kids that you've taught. So, we're going to wrap it up, but I wanted to put you in the hot seat so you could show off your creativity. So I've been saying how creative you are this whole time, but but you really are.

I'm going to give you some random topics, and you are going to say how you could infuse a little creativity to make it more engaging for kids. So these are typically boring lessons, okay? Okay. So the first one is geometry. So let's say you're doing classifying triangles. Polygons with, no, polygons with pancakes, yes.

because that's the pancake activity you saw. That one was, I don't even remember. I just remember the pancake. I didn't remember what it was teaching. They were polygons with pancakes and we were identifying the angles of our pancake. Because they had to use a little plastic knife or a popsicle stick to define the [00:43:00] angles.

So, So I would do triangles with little, you know, microwave pancakes and they would just chop that little triangle into different triangle classifications. You could get an isosceles triangle. You can create a right angle with two popsicle sticks and chop that pancake. You could identify the points on the triangles with chocolate chips and hope it didn't melt because your pancake was too hot.

Yeah, we could go lots of places with with triangles. So here's one. What about, let's do punctuation.

So you had to teach commas and what would we do? The fanboys. And they're all wearing different underwear and they like the F is their initials are on the back of the underwear. It's a stick person. It's just got this triangle underwear on it. And you just put, you know, these are the fanboys, and they're facing backwards because of the initial the F is on the booty part.

So F A N D O Y S and there's a whole bunch of them, but we got to separate them. So let's [00:44:00] put commas behind in between all of them. Okay. So when you see them in a sentence with two clauses, we're going to put that fanboy, but don't forget that comma to keep another fanboy from crowding him. So I just made that up.

But I'm going to use it because I got them coming up. Yeah, so that you're talking about compound sentences and that those are really hard for students to know whether or not to put The comma, or just to leave the conjunction by itself. So how much you want to bet they're going to love that underwear.

Never forget. Fanboys and who they are. Okay, so here's one. How would you creatively teach students to find facts and informational text? So a more boring content. How would you spice it up? How would I spice it up? I know the teacher, like the admin answer to that would be like, well, we get them on.

What is that? [00:45:00] What do they call it? Races? You know, restate the question, answer with all that gobbledygook. How to find evidence in a text. Something as simple as a highlighter is magical. Something as simple as a light colored smelly marker is magical. Something as simple as a glow bracelet in a circle or just a glow bracelet in the front.

Flat little spot and you have the text in front of you, and I'm going to turn on, I'm going to put it on where you think the evidence to this question is, underline your past, underline that sentence, that where the sentence that shows the evidence of where that question's answer is, and I'm going to turn off the lights and I'm going to come by and look at you and see it.

That's a great idea because, well, first off, there's the turn off the lights. That's always fun. And then, you know, the globe bracelets, you literally, you're going to go walk by and what you're going to see on the [00:46:00] desk is the answer. They're going to really try. So that kind of goes back to the baby bird lesson they want to do.

They want to win. They want to, apply themselves and try to get the right answer. Yes. And like, you could buy. A hundred glow bracelets in a, like a tube at the dollar store. I mean, they're just, they're so cheap and so accessible and I have plenty of trip teachers have treasure boxes with glow bracelets in them.

I'm going to do one more this time. I'm going to do math. Let me think I used up all the ones that I wrote down. So let's see. How about adding and subtracting decimals? Well, I'm going to borrow a strategy from my friend, Cassi Noack, that I thought that like, like a last set of fourth graders, even third graders.

But I use the songs we had finished curriculum and I was like, how about we went to the fourth grade and they were like, ah, so we were going to learn decimal. So we score higher on our math test. That's a district test that we have to take. [00:47:00] And we use the ghost. They thought that was very cool to line them up, fill it in, drop it down.

And I got that from my friend Cassi. You don't have to be too creative. But if I had, I didn't have, but if I could be even more creative than that, cause you use the ghost from Pac Man to fill in the holes inside, lining up decimals to add and subtract them. I would use probably a gummy candy like go to the dollar store during Halloween and they have the grossest candy ever but kids usually the kids love it.

Those are my favorite Halloween candies, the dots. Nobody else likes them but I love them. Yes. Finding dots in the color that nobody likes, you know, that pineapple one. And I know I love those, but they're so good. And sticking them on there. And that would be the most engaging thing ever, because even if they didn't like the flavor, they would want to eat it just because it was candy or.

Any other candy that would fit in that [00:48:00] hole, like even an M and M you could stick an M and M in there and say, it's Mr. Ghost M and M, you know, whatever he's purple, he's blue. Also, oh gosh, teachers, those miniature M and M's first make sure nobody has a peanut allergy because you know, those peanut allergy people may be, you know, allergic to, you know, whatever they manufacture M and M's.

Wherever they manufacture those and sometimes it has a warning because it doesn't so steer clear of that, but miniature M& Ms, you can literally use those in class for engagement in so many ways. Oh my gosh. I usually, yeah, if parents ever say, do you need anything for class? Do you have a wishlist? I'm like, yes, miniature M& Ms and Skittles.

Those go a long way too. You can do a whole lot with Skittles. Yeah. Also speaking of, you know, donating candy and the little dots. Halloween is a great time to ask parents for candy because they don't want their kids to have all that candy. [00:49:00] So I would just be like, give me what you don't want your kids to have or as a teacher, or you get a lot of candy for yourself.

I don't want that candy in my house because then I'll eat it. So yeah, I'll take donations, good prizes, good learning manipulatives, that's good manipulatives, the best kind, most engaging. And yeah, I am guilty of not following the minimum nutrition guidelines, but I'm happy to be in a campus where, you know, their price part has candy in it.

So they don't really follow that rule either. So, you know, candy's fair game. And candy's a really good Engagement tool. It's one of the easiest ones to and just like you said, you always have someone to give that treat to even when it's teacher treat day and they someone gives you a random donut.

You betcha I leverage that donut. It's not my, I'm not going to eat that. [00:50:00] One of you is going to eat the donut or we're going to balance it on our nose or we're going to, you know, throw it across the room and see how far it got. Yeah. I don't know. We're going to do something with that donut, but it's not going to be me that eats it.

Well, thank you so much for sharing today and for coming on the podcast. It's been so fun to catch up with you and you just. Never cease to amaze me with your creativity and all the ideas that you have. And I just know that it's not just talk. Anytime anyone goes in your classroom, there is something fun going on.

That's why when I was a math specialist, you know, I could go to This PLC or do that one or I could just like hang out and sit in the back of your classroom and watch the circus for fun. If you could just give one piece of encouragement to teachers about anything this year, what would you leave them with?

Make your heart happy. You have to make your heart happy. You have to fill your [00:51:00] heart with the success of your students. And if you're working really hard, then, you know, I've crashed and burned lessons before important people were observing me, it happens to everybody. The screen projector falls in your head and, you know, lights go out, power goes out one kid decides to act crazy on that day.

All of us have those terrible, terrible days, and it's not always rainbows and sunshine and we catch colds and everything, but always remember, you know, you are more than just a teacher. Never say that you're just a teacher. You are that the difference between a kid's success and Thank you Not success in their lives, whether you think it or not you play a huge part and they remember more than you think they will remember.

Just keep in mind to just make it positive. Try to make every day positive, even when you [00:52:00] don't feel it, that these are you know, These little kids, they're just little kids and it's not that deep education is important, but things that go wrong in the day, it's just not that deep. And sometimes we just have to say, well, we're going to try again tomorrow.

That was a mess and let it be a mess and don't be hard on yourself. So that was, I don't know if that was one thing. That was a whole lot of things. Maybe it's just what I tell myself to keep coming back. I think that's definitely something I need to hear too. So, all right, well, thank you so much. I hope to talk to you later.

I hope it's not so long. Bye bye. Bye.