Episode Details

Superintendent:
Hello, and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. We are again recording this podcast, using Google Meet in order to maintain social distancing as a District. We're very proud of the digital learning that is happening during the school dismissal, proud of teachers, students, and parents who are taking on this new challenge. We know it's been very difficult and it's a big shift, but we also know that great things are happening on today's episode of the Supercast. We check in with one of our Digital Learning Administrators, Ross Menlove, to get some tips for parents on how to help their students learn online while at home. But first, let's check in with Jordan Ridge Elementary School Principal, Melissa Beck, and teacher Bryan Youtz to hear about some creative things teachers and students are doing with digital learning. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for having us, Melissa. You've been there three years.

Melissa:
I feel like the luckiest person in the world to be at Jordan Ridge. This is a school of very high expectations, both from the teachers and from the community, very supportive community. Our teachers are very motivated to learn new content. We have many teachers who have multiple endorsements. We have teachers who search out their own professional development. Most teachers, thanks to Bryan, who is our Digital Teacher Leader have been exposed to a lot of these online tools already. So Bryan's been doing Tech Tuesdays and training teachers to lots of these, so teachers are doing a lot to stay connected. We're also doing some fun things. We did a a parade where we went out and wave to families and help them know that we are still thinking about them and still care about them.

Superintendent:
Tell me a little bit more about that parade. What was that like? You drove through the neighborhoods and did you go through all of the streets within your boundary and what was that experience like?

Melissa:
Yeah, so we almost hit every single street. There was a few that we didn't hit, otherwise the parade would have been two hours long and it was super fun. We have lots of families come out and had posters and signs, almost every single one of our teachers came. There were a few, you know, because of family situations that couldn't, but almost every teacher showed up and had decorated their cars. It was a really, really great experience. I received many emails from parents afterwards saying that's exactly what they needed. They needed that to feel connected and to feel supported. So it was super fun. And at first we thought we were doing that for the families, but we found soon after that, it really was for us.

Superintendent:
That connection with kids is why we become educators. I'm sure it was a great chance to reconnect. Bryan, how did it feel as a teacher to be part of that parade?

Byan:
It was a lot of fun being able to go around the different streets and see the different students that come out in support of us and in support of what they're doing at home. I got to see several students of mine, and also students that I knew throughout the schools, simply because of the relationship that I try to give to all the students that are around. There's a lot of students out there that know me, but I have no idea who they are. But I really enjoyed being able to go and be a part o