Indian Prairie Podcast

Kathy is joined by Montrine Johnson, Assistant Principal of Waubonsie Valley High School, and Candy Michelli, Director of Professional Learning, to discuss the Social Emotional Learning (SEL) work at the high school level.

School District 204 is dedicated to implement a Pre-K through high school systemic approach in integrating Social Emotional Learning for our students.

Kathy joined by Molly Larson, Instructional Technology Specialist, and Kristen Mattson, LMC Director at Waubonsie Valley High School, to discuss the District's initiative in educating students in the area of safety in the digital world.

Over the summer the District gathered a group of educators to develop a systemic approach and created a vision of "Working together, we will empower the community of District 204 with the skills necessary to be safe, savvy, and social digital citizens."

Kathy is joined by Leslie Mitchell, Principal of Gregory Middle School, and Kevin Schnable, Principal of McCarty Elementary School, to discuss Social Emotional Learning (SEL).

Two years ago, Superintendent Dr. Karen Sullivan signed a partner with Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) that would provide the District the necessary resources to develop a PreK-12 systemic approach to Social Emotional Learning for our students.

Kathy is joined by Brian Giovanini, Director of Innovation, and Scott Nickel, Project Arrow Teacher at Cowlishaw Elementary, to discuss the District's implementation of World of Work into the curriculum.

World of Work was started by Ed Hidalgo in Cajon Valley School District near San Diego, California. World of Work allows students to explore careers and learn about their own strengths, interests, and values allowing them discover their place in the world of work.

Kathy is joined by Brian Giovanini, Director of Innovation, and Tera Nordstrom, Second Grade teacher at Cowlishaw Elementary, to discuss the District's implementation of World of Work into the curriculum.

World of Work was started by Ed Hidalgo in Cajon Valley School District near San Diego, California. World of Work allows students to learn about their own strengths, interests, and values through the use of the RIASEC (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional).

Kathy is joined by Tarah Fowler, Director of Middle School Core Curriculum, and Maria Walther, First Grade teacher and Instructional Specialist, to discuss the Volume Reading team's challenge of increasing student reading.

A recent report from Scholastic found children are more likely to read outside of school if they are reading a book for fun in school.

In part one of this multi-episode series, Kathy is joined by Adam Smeets, Chief Technology Officer for District 204, to discuss the implementation of the District's new student information system Synergy.

Kathy is joined by Brian Giovanini, Director of Innovation, and Megan Tillotson, Middle School Instructional Technology Teacher, to discuss the importance of teaching our students Computational Thinking.

With the advancement of technology in all areas of life we are starting to see the skills involved with Computational Thinking grow across all disciplines.

Kathy is joined by Adam Dyche and Don Pankuch, Social Studies Department Chairs at WVHS and MVHS.

Teachers and administrators have been working to outline ways we are meeting the needs of our students through a variety of instructional practices. These range from a traditional model of face to face with the teacher to a fully online course with only online communication.