Preparing for a New School Year, with Leif Voltz

In this inspiring episode, middle school science teacher Leif Voltz returns to the Unpacking Education podcast to share his reflections on a challenging, yet rewarding, school year and how he's preparing to start fresh with hope and joy. Leif opens up regarding burnout, the importance of relationships, and the mindset shifts that help educators recharge and reconnect with their purpose. Listen in for a discussion exploring how to balance high expectations with grace, lean into student-centered practices, and embrace both new technologies like AI and timeless classroom values. Visit AVID Open Access to learn more.

Transcript

Leif Voltz 0:00 Every year is very different, and I think sometimes it's hard for us to start with new eyes, but we need to remember that our students do. They come in next year, it's their first time as a sixth grader, and it's the only time as a sixth grader, and that's the only time they're ever going to think about it. And so I want to come at it with newness and joy in that space for them, because they deserve that.

Paul Beckermann 0:27 The topic for today's podcast is "Preparing for a New School Year with Leif Voltz". 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 0:46 Welcome to Unpacking Education, the podcast where we explore current issues and best practices in education. I'm Rena Clark.

Paul Beckermann 0:56 I'm Paul Beckermann.

Winston Benjamin 0:58 and I'm Winston Benjamin. We are educators.

Paul Beckermann 1:02 and we're here to share insights and actionable strategies.

Transition Music with Rena's Children 1:07 Education is our passport to the future.

Paul Beckermann 1:11 Our quote for today is from Dari Steffens in her Nearpod blog about tips for first-year teachers. She writes, "the sheer amount of variables that a classroom of unique individuals brings with them makes for an awe-inspiring journey year over year". All right, Winston, you get first crack at that. What are you thinking, year over year?

Winston Benjamin 1:34 Sounds like something that I'm kind of terrified of, but also the value of it. Because I remember thinking about students at the beginning of the school year and just being like, "What do I have with me right now?" And then watching them through the years, the struggle, the ups, the downs, and then seeing the person that they became at the end of the year, it always makes me happy to watch them walk away so that they can come back and show me how much more they grow. So I just that that idea of like, the feeling of the year over year, the good and the bad, but the variable part is like, "Oh, I don't want to stress out yet," but I think it really does help to think that how much students grow within one year, then to think about how they're going to grow every year post you is also exciting.

Paul Beckermann 2:24 Humans are complex, aren't they? You kind of know what you're getting into every year because you've been through this before, if you're a veteran teacher, but there's no way to predict exactly what that next year is going to be like, because the dynamics of that classroom can be so different, you know, even from period to period in a secondary school, because humans are complex. You know, we we are our own people, and it takes a while to get to know that personality of that classroom. And I think that's always part of the adventure of starting a new school year, but there's always joy in it, and you need to, you need to find your path forward on that. So that's what I think about when I hear that, too.

And we are excited to welcome back a repeat guest. So it's kind of like the new school year here with our guest. Leif Voltz is coming back to the show. I'm back. Hey, welcome back, Leif.

Leif Voltz 3:22 Yes, sir.

Paul Beckermann 3:23 You want to take just a second, Leif, and reintroduce yourself to our listeners? Some may not have caught the first episode that you were with us.

Leif Voltz 3:30 Yeah, absolutely. So again, Leif Voltz. I have been a middle school science teacher for finishing. I just finished my 12th year teaching science, which has been great, and been in the same district since the beginning, which is wild to think about, but I love that community. Feel that, like, as I'm walking around town, I see people who are now adults, and that's a great thing, and that kind of centers on what I'm probably going to touch on a little bit, is that community aspect and how much joy that brings me as well. But yeah, I love what I do. In the summertime, when you're probably listening to this, I am out and about. I love camping and hiking and photography and spending time with my family as much as possible.

Paul Beckermann 4:20 That's awesome, and we are actually recording this at the end of the school year. But I think that's kind of fitting, because we're always reflecting, right? We're always thinking about what just happened, and how can we use that moving forward to become better. So I'm going to ask you this, Leif, as you look back at the last school year, this school year, we're just kind of wrapping up, what have you learned that you think will shape how you approach next year, when you begin a new school year?

Leif Voltz 4:47 Yeah, you know, I'm gonna be completely honest. This school year was difficult. There were lots of challenges that came up that really it left me scraping the bottom of my toolbox, is kind of how I felt many days. And I think my family could also attest to that, as I come home and I'm talking about things and I'm trying to hash it out.

I think my often, my go-to, I'm pretty relentless when I'm trying to figure something out. And although that's a strength, I've learned this year that that trying to go harder and harder can actually be a recipe for burnout in some ways. So what I'm what I've learned from this year is, yes, go as hard as you can, but also learn when to step away and let things kind of flourish in their own way before approaching that problem again.

I think I'm realizing too, you know, I did a lot of work this school year in fighting for better teacher pensions here in the state of Minnesota, and spent some time at the Capitol, and it got me thinking about, you know, that I want to continue to do good for decades to come, and what that will look like, and that I want to make sure I'm approaching each individual and each space with grace, while also giving myself that grace, so even when things are tough, to keep moving forward, but then also to take care of myself too. In that space, I'm kind of curious.

You said you were scraping the bottom of the toolbox for a while. Were you able to pick a tool off the bottom that that actually did work and help you out as you were doing that? It was one. It was a different tool for a different student, and that even changed from day to day. Honestly, I I'd find myself having big wins, and honestly, there were some really tremendous wins this year that were really exciting to see.

And what's been lovely is having having conversations with those students to let them know how much I've seen that growth, how proud I am of them, and letting them know what I'm excited to see in the future, but I think continuing to focus on relationships and starting each day with a fresh lens was really what I needed when things got tricky, you know. And you come back and you want to give folks the benefit of the doubt, and you want to support them in a way that can help their growth. But yeah, I don't know if that makes sense at all, but

Winston Benjamin 7:29 no, it does for sure, trust me, it does. Because as a Dean of middle school, Dean of Students, I completely hear you that this year, yeah, was hard. But there's something else that you said that I just, I'm, I'm so glad you said it: the growth of the student at the end of the year, you're like, you know what, you got you got better. You got better.

But as we think about the end of the year, what I'm going to try to have you do is maybe future cast, slash, reflect. Um, if you have the chance to think about this year as you plan for next year, the first week of school, what would be something you're focusing on during that first few weeks of school, thinking and reflecting on this year, what would be your some of your first your focus in that first week?

Leif Voltz 8:20 Yeah, I mean, I think that's the tricky thing too, because over the last about three or four years, I've had a pretty strong formula that I've used in working with students. I do what I call data-driven relationship building. So I'm writing postcards to students before school starts, of pretty specific list of students I think would benefit from a positive relationship, that in the first week, all of those students get a positive phone call home, and then we continue to move from there.

And I tried that again this year, but it didn't work in the same way that I thought it would. And so I think going into next year, I want to continue, like, pulling myself back up again and say, you know, even though things didn't work in the way that I thought they would, what what ideas I had, as far as relationship building, that's something I'm going to continue to focus on.

I think something too I've come to realize this year is I can do what I can in building relationships, and it's okay to recognize that we are a school full of amazing teachers, and even if I, you know, am not able to, on the exterior, make a difference. Number one, knowing that I've probably made a difference somewhere. Number two, knowing that some teacher somewhere is going to make a difference for someone. So continuing that positive lens, but this just diving in head first with relationships, as I've done before. I really, truly believe that that does form the basis for where I want to build a classroom community that can really make a difference, not only for the students, but for the sixth grade class as a whole. So that is my focus going into next year, and one that I'm going to continue to focus on for years to come.

Paul Beckermann 10:14 So you know, before we went on air, Leif, you were reminding us that the last time you were on the podcast, it was right in the heart of the pandemic, and we were transitioning from distance learning to hybrid learning to face-to-face learning and all that. It's been a little while now since that has happened. I'm kind of curious your perspective, looking back even on that now, how are students doing? Have you have you seen any changes, any adjustments that you've had to make as you've been engaging with kids?

Leif Voltz 10:45 You know, I would say, for the great majority, students are doing great. You know, I think we sometimes forget how resilient kids are. They don't know, they don't know that this is different, you know, in a lot of ways. And so they're just resilient to come to it with that fresh lens, and they're always changing, and they're always modulating themselves as they themselves are changing. So I think a lot of students are doing really great, and we're continuing to move forward from that.

I would say the students that I'm still seeing, who may be finding some struggles, is a little bit with that self-determination. I think during the pandemic, let's see, the grade that I had this past year, where they were in the end of first grade going into second grade. So I think sometimes they may have missed out on the pieces that they needed most, most importantly, like the determination or that self-grit of like, you know what, I'm going to dig in, or I've made a failure, because maybe they were one-on-one with a parent most days, because of their, you know, their situation, or what have you, but also because of who they are as a student.

And I think the interventions that we need to do in order to support these students are interventions we don't even know necessarily how to develop, because we don't even fully recognize what it is that we're seeing. I would say I saw a little bit of that, but by large, large measure, I would say most students have bounced back to a very normal place, as far as normal can be for sixth grade.

Winston Benjamin 12:26 Good point, yeah, yeah. Um, you said you're a science teacher, and my students, science sometimes can be fun, sometimes cannot be fun, right? Depending on what the actual topic is for that day or that unit. So I'm going to ask you a question that might seem like I'm asking about hard and soft skills, right? So what do you see as the most important skills, hard or soft, should make your choosing, that students can learn in a middle school science class? Maybe it's grit, as you were just explaining. And what is your approach for helping students develop those skills?

Leif Voltz 13:08 Hard and soft skills in a science classroom? All right. So our school has soft skills developed through our SEL programming, which we've really continued to lean in on. I think the fun part within that is when we do those lessons once a week, echoing those concepts in my science classroom. A lot of that has to do with cooperation and students working in different teams and developing roles.

Largely this year, I focused on active listening, what that looks like, how that builds relationships with classmates and teachers. And so a lot of what we did was practicing that. And the lens in science was observation. So in science, we're doing a lot of observation for our specific population. This is the first time they've ever had like a specific science class. So there's a lot of basics they're just getting for the first time.

So with active listening, we focused on observation and collecting evidence to support our claims. I think connecting that with relationships and how you want to listen to your classmates and you want to come back to, you know, understanding what it is that they're saying. You want to make sure that you see them in a way that is an open lens. And so I don't know if this is making any sense at all, but I just keep echoing, echoing back in my science class when we have our lessons to those pieces. In a lot of this year, it's been building relationships and making sure that we are showing up for each other in those spaces.

I would say hard skills in science is really focusing on developing a claim, collecting the evidence, and then reasoning why all of that is coming together. And the fun part with our change in science standards, and I'm not sure if we're going to talk about that moving forward, but we've really shifted our focus, instead of just focusing mostly on content, to focusing on content and process. And so how do we do the work of a scientist?

And the beautiful part is that that has connected to our social studies classes, with collecting evidence. It's also connected to our English classes with writing a paper and that you have to collect evidence as well. So the language has meshed across all curricular areas, which has been really exciting this year.

Paul Beckermann 15:33 Yeah, let's talk about those new science standards a little bit. How do you see that impacting, you know, how you address a daily lesson? Like, how has it actually impacted what happens in your classroom?

Leif Voltz 15:44 It's wildly different from where I started my teaching career. I mean, I laugh now thinking back how I just, man, I was like, "What were you doing that first year?" You're just, like, muddling around, throwing facts about the Earth at kids. Like, what? That's not what we're all about. But I got to give my past self grace as well.

I think now what it looks like is helping students to come up with their own explanation for scientific phenomena. You know, it's that really deep internal creation of an idea, instead of me laying it on top of the students and having them memorize it, because ultimately, that's gonna help them to create mental models they'll be able to take with them. Because honestly, like, I don't remember a lot from my sixth grade science class. You know, explicitly I couldn't tell you specific facts, but I bet there's an understanding of how the world works that I gained, that I was then able to build off, on, in, seventh, eighth, ninth and beyond.

So my focus is helping students to understand, like, "Why is it raining, or what creates a storm, or why the Moon looks different every night," and helping to guide them through different models. So then they can build that, and then they create their own understanding by saying, "Well, in my notes, I saw this, and then when I made that model, this is what I had, and that's why it does this thing that I've seen all my life". And so giving them that beginning of being able to explain themselves with evidence in a more eloquent manner with complete sentences. I can't tell you how many times I kicked a kid's work back because they weren't doing a complete sentence. It's like, Ooh boy, we're definitely gonna focus on that next year. So,

Paul Beckermann 17:34 All right, so I was an English teacher, and you kind of hinted that this is sort of rubbed off on some of the other content areas. Can you elaborate on that? Like, how has the change in the science class maybe had implications in these other content areas?

Leif Voltz 17:47 Yeah, I mean, it's teaching students how to be a student of the world. You know. It's saying, what do you see out there? How are you going to make sense of what it is you're seeing, and then how are you going to pull it all together and explain it to somebody? I feel like the skills that we're teaching are to set them up for greater success in whatever area they want to pursue, while also giving them the necessary information embedded within that.

So it's a really beautiful dovetailed system, whereas before, I feel like we were just throwing science facts and hoping that some of them stuck, but now we're having the same language of collecting information about the world and then putting it together in a way that is your own voice. And that's happening in all classes across the board, I would say, and to a large part, that's one of the beautiful things that AVID has done for our system is create a common language where we get to talk about writing and inquiry, collaboration, organization and reading, and then continue to push that message for all of our students. Sounds like lots of critical thinking, which, yes, we all need. Exactly.

Winston Benjamin 18:59 So I'm going to talk to you about the big monster that's been in the world since the last two years. Which is, oh, which AI, I know, bro, um, AI. I hear that you've been, um, wading into the AI, the world of AI, um, yep. How have you used it as a teacher? Because, you know, you can do it with shopping, all these other things. But how have you used AI as a teacher?

Leif Voltz 19:25 Well, I think number one, I when I was listening to when I was on before and I talked about creating, like, a philosophy of how I wanted to go about distance learning and blended learning, and how I wanted that to look in the pandemic. I kind of find myself doing it again with AI for myself, just professionally speaking.

I think at the beginning of this school year, I did a lot of toying around with AI just to see what this looked like, what this felt like, what this could create, what these things have in store for us. But I'm coming to a greater understanding of first, as well, the ethics of AI and where they're getting their information to create their variety of chat bots. Also looking at the ethical implications of our natural resource use within AI. I'm sure you guys are familiar with how much energy goes to that and how much fresh water is evaporated from the use of AI, particularly when it's happening in data centers of more rural areas, and how those people are being affected. Also the noise component of data centers, like, there's so many pieces to consider.

And so I use that as to say, like, "Okay, I am going to use AI in some shape or where form in my day-to-day work, but I need to be mindful, and when I use it, I need to use it in a way that makes sense". And so for me, that's creating a list of prompts that I can continue to come back to that makes sense and are not only ethically sourced, but created in a way that really gets to the nitty-gritty of what I'm wanting to do, and then also creating things that I can reuse multiple times in multiple ways, so that I am, you know, fully utilizing what I'm being offered.

A lot of creating AI or using AI as an assistant to help me formulate and curate ideas. That's the majority of what I use it for, and right now my the exciting thing for me is I am building frameworks of standards-based projects for students that I'm then hopefully going to utilize as extensions for my learners on that tier of the bell curve, so that those students are getting what they need.

I tested it with one of my classes. It went really, really well. The students really loved it. It was a series of three projects that they got to choose from. It was a checklisted system. It was all in Google Slides. I input it into Schoology, and it was very self-run on the part of the students. So that was something that was really exciting, but that's mainly the way that I see myself using AI. And I really am trying to get away from just like, goofy memes, because, like, that's for me, that's not, and I'm learning like, "Hey, hold on". That was really fun, but also, pull back, that's not really an ethical use of our natural resources of space, of time, of this resource that I have at my fingertips. So

Paul Beckermann 22:26 Yeah, you kind of bring up a really interesting point. You know, that balancing between the ethics of it, the cost of it, and also the fact that it's probably not going away. So how do we use it in that ethical, thoughtful way, and that impacts our kids too, right? Our students, and they're going to be living their whole lives in this AI-driven world. So I'm kind of curious, how have you engaged kids and students with AI? Yeah, come into your class.

Leif Voltz 22:56 I mean, I'll be completely honest. I don't feel like my sixth graders this year have known how to to dive in. They just don't necessarily have the skills, and or they don't even fully know that it exists or what it could even be used for. So I haven't seen a lot of my students use AI.

Part of it too, is a lot of the work that we're doing in my class is critical thinking, where the students have to come up with their own reasoning why the evidence supports their claim. So it's pretty tough for AI to help them in those parts. I mean, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do some work, or I've been invited to help do some work in our district in creating some standards for AI use with students, and I'm really excited about that.

I think part of when I'm thinking of the lens, I want to come into that space, and what I've been doing with students is helping students to not only use it critically, but to think critically before using it. So they're thinking critically about the information that's coming back to them, but then they're thinking critically, like, how am I using it, and what's the appropriate way to use it?

Before we dive in for today. Actually, it came up. This was the first time in a long time I had a student who asked if they could use AI just to, like, get information like Google, and I helped her to understand that instead, we're going to take the information that you just read through, that you told me was really confusing, and we're going to plug that in. And I helped type out with her a prompt of like, "Can you please make this in a bulleted list that's really helpful for a sixth grader to understand?" And then from there, she was able to read through the information and have an understanding that no-till farming is better because it decreases runoff and decreases the nitrogen that flows into our rivers. So that was a really cool application that I was like, "Oh, we could use it in this way". And that makes sense. But I find myself stumbling into those things, you know. So I'm look, I'm looking forward to having a little bit more of a framework that I can build with students that is system-wide. And I'm grateful that I'm in a district that is thinking in that way, instead of just kind of haphazardly going at it here and there.

Paul Beckermann 25:11 I'm just curious, have you had a chance to dabble with the custom chatbots at all, like in School AI, or something like that?

Leif Voltz 25:19 I have. I have and I, you know, I've looked at School AI and Magic School. Magic School. I've tested them both simultaneously with different classes. It's funny because one I find provides better responses for students, but I don't like the teacher-student interface, and find that that's really clunky. One works better for me and one gives better student answers, but does not work for me.

So we're not really there yet with utilizing chatbots in a way that makes sense with sixth graders when I'm already strapped for time, for the things that we have to get through. So it's hard sometimes to dabble in this or that when I'm already just trying to keep going. Like, we had to cut half of a unit this year because we ran out of time, and it's just hard, you know.

It'll be interesting to see where, where it all goes. But I agree, we're still in the infancy, and I in that infant state. I, you know, I want to not turn away, because that's also not the way to do it. But I also want to move forward in a way that makes sense and sets us up for success for a long term. So I'm excited for that.

Winston Benjamin 26:38 So as we know, education is always changing, and as we know, technology is always changing. Is there any new technology or learning opportunities that you hope to try out next year?

Leif Voltz 26:52 I can't think of a specific software program that's sticking out in my mind. I think really what I want to do is to continue to use AI to build out things for my students and also utilize it in a way that makes sense with my students. I think that's going to take a lot of time and energy, and I want to make sure that instead of just, you know, bouncing from one thing to the next to the next, I want to give this thing enough time and practice in my space so that I can continue to use it for a long period of time.

Because, like you said, I don't see this changing. I don't see it going away, but I can't turn away, because that's also not ethical, you know, to to ignore a thing that's coming about that my students are seeing and hearing and trying to process, and we, I think, as educators, would be it would not be best practice if we just let our students try to haphazardly figure out their own way. Plus, it wouldn't be nice. Like, we need to guide them. We need to be with them in that space. That's where they are, and we need to meet them there too. So I agree.

Paul Beckermann 28:05 All right, well, you've, you've given us a lot to think about, Leif, and you know, Winston opened up the opportunity for some kind of a tool. So let's hop into our toolkit.

Transition Music with Rena's Children 28:15 Check it out, check it, Check it out, check it out, check it out, check it out. What's in the toolkit? What is in the toolkit? Check it out.

Paul Beckermann 28:26 All right. Toolkit time. You can add whatever you'd like. It can be a digital tool. It could be a strategy. It could be a mindset. Can be whatever's on your mind. Winston, what do you got for the toolkit today?

Winston Benjamin 28:37 As we've been talking, I've been really thinking about healthy habits. So I think Seven Healthy Habits for Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey has been a very good thing for me to help kids learn like, all right, what are the things that are happening to me right now, and how do I prepare myself? So I think using those as a beginning point for next year is something that I'm going to try to think about doing myself. Wow, that's a classic. It's been around, and it helped me.

Paul Beckermann 29:07 That's great. There you go. I am kind of dwelling a little bit on what Leif was talking about. You know, he's got, sort of his, his tried and true ways that he goes about starting a school year. And he also mentioned, though, that he was scraping the bottom of the toolkit at one time.

So I think there's this balance that we need to strike between using what we know works, because that's the value of experience, but also continuing to drop things into that toolkit. And if we're talking about community building, which I know, Leif, is really important to you, we do have some templates at AVID Open Access that you can go and grab if you're just looking for new, new community-building ideas. We've got, like, a T-shirt design template. We've got a get-to-know-you bingo board. There's a design-a-locker. There's a design-a-pendant. There's small short introduction speeches that you can do. So there's things like that. If you're interested in the template. You just want to grab them and use them in your classroom. Go to AVID Open Access and you'll find them under the templates. Leif, you can play along here too.

Leif Voltz 30:04 Oh, I love it. So during fourth quarter this school year, I implemented doing circles once a week at the beginning of our science class, not necessarily restorative circle, but just like, you know, we have a talking piece. We go through our procedures of how we build community. I was afraid that a lot of my students were going to think it was hokey, but they were asking for it, and wanted to do it every day, because they get to share what their vibe check is as we go around once, and then there are some questions for them. So I want to continue to build those structures of building community in my class by doing that at the start of next year, instead of here at the end. I think that with building relationships could go a long way in helping us to develop those classroom communities that support each other a lot faster. We got there at the end of this year, but, man, I want to get there even faster next year, so that we can come together as one team.

Winston Benjamin 31:09 I love that. So it's time for the next segment.

Transition Music with Rena's Children 31:15 It's time for that one thing.

Winston Benjamin 31:20 Time for that one thing. That one thing. What's the one thing that's still running around in your mind, something that you're still thinking about, or something you want to actively do in the coming future? So Paul, I'm gonna throw it to you, what's your one thing?

Paul Beckermann 31:40 You know, as we're thinking about the starting of a school year, the theme for me, and a lot of what Leif has shared, is the student-centered mindset. I mean, it really is about those relationships. What's best for the students, how can we guide them? How can we empower them, and the thoughtfulness that goes with that? If you had that mindset, I think, going into the beginning of a new school year, you will have success.

Winston Benjamin 32:05 I like it, and I am going to say, "Grace". Give yourself grace. Give your kids grace, because you got to see them again the next day. So if you hold all of that in, and you don't give a little bit, you won't be able to watch them mature as they learn through mistakes. Leif, is there anything that's still one thing that's popping you in your head?

Leif Voltz 32:35 Well, shoot, both of those things, but that's too easy. But seriously, I think both of those things are really important, and I think that grace component is pretty huge. I mean, going into a new school year, I want to remind myself and others of the newness that a new year can bring. I think, you know, every year is very different, and I think sometimes it's hard for us to start with new eyes, but we need to remember that our students, do. You know, they they come in and like next year, it's their first time as a sixth grader, and it's the only time as a sixth grader, and that's the only time they're ever going to think about it. And so I want to come at it with newness and joy in that space for them, because they deserve that.

Paul Beckermann 33:29 Fantastic, and Leif, you said that before the show, before we went on the air, you said that you had re-listened to that other episode. So you probably remember, at the very end of the episode, I'm just in awe of your name, because you're a science teacher and your name is Leif Voltz. How does that happen?

Leif Voltz 33:50 Isn't that great?

Paul Beckermann 33:51 I mean, you bring, okay, here it is. You bring both life and energy to your classroom. There you go.

Leif Voltz 33:59 We try. We try. I mean, I think my older brother's name is Lars and my mom's name is Elsa, so that name just kind of fit. And honestly, I was just visiting my grandma this last week, and I learned that back in the '30s, they added a T to our last name because my great-grandpa was afraid to, he was not gonna get his check from the Work Progress Administration. So lots of funny things.

Paul Beckermann 34:22 Wow. You just, your destiny was to be a science teacher. You really.

Leif Voltz 34:27 Well, thank you.

Paul Beckermann 34:28 Well, we're glad that you are. And thanks again for joining us today. Leif is always a pleasure. Yep.

Leif Voltz 34:33 Thanks for having me.

Rena Clark 34:35 Thanks for listening to Unpacking Education.

Winston Benjamin 34:38 We invite you to visit us at avidopenaccess.org where you can discover resources to support student agency and academic tenacity to create a classroom for future-ready learners.

Paul Beckermann 34:51 We'll be back here next Wednesday for a fresh episode of Unpacking Education.

Rena Clark 34:56 and remember, "Go forth and be awesome".

Winston Benjamin 35:00 Thank you for all you do.

Paul Beckermann 35:02 You make a difference.