Guest Bios - 

Megan Mills has 14 years experience teaching in the areas of special education, general ed and talented/gifted students. She’s done this work in both brick and mortar and virtual settings. She is currently in her 4th year as a special education teacher at Frontier Charter Academy. 

Dr. Katie Schweitzer has worked in public education for the last 18 years both in brick and mortar and online. She is a principal and district level administrator for student services and teaching and learning, and holds a doctorate in educational leadership. 

Summary - 

In this episode we learn that it’s essential to imagine what online education could be, and work to make that a reality for students. We learn that connecting with families and students is essential to success and that the beauty of online education lies in the fact that accommodations are available to everyone, all the time. 

Timestamps - 

What keeps both Katie and Megan going back to school themselves? [3:04]

What led Megan to online teaching? [4:53]

We had no idea… [5:42]

How did Katie find online education? [6:55]

Asking ‘what could it be?’ [8:36]

Megan’s Take: teaching challenges and rewards [11:10]

Katie’s Take: admin challenges and rewards [14:14]

Who can online schools support? [17:31]

The greatest struggle we face [19:56]

Accommodations are a snap! [21:10]

Families are looking for answers [22:07]

The importance of listening to families [22:51]

Normalizing virtual learning and therapies [27:57]

The silver lining to remote learning [29:02]

Recognition of the good in online charters [30:24]

New Mindset - we don’t accept limitations [31:46]

Megan’s favorite teacher [33:23]

Katie’s favorite teacher [35:44]

Resources -

Accommodations FREEBIE!!!

FCA Website

Guest Emails

Megan Mills [email protected]

Dr. Katie Schweitzer [email protected]

Guest Bio - 

Shawn Bundy has been teaching science and coaching high school soccer and chess for nearly 20 years. Shawn has spent the last ten years teaching high school science at Oregon Charter Academy and coaching girls soccer at a variety of Portland area high schools. He enjoys helping young adults to experiment in the classroom and on the field and believes that the best way for students to learn is when they feel safe enough to make their own decisions and mistakes.

Episode Summary - 

In today’s episode, Shawn teaches us that teachers are coaches and that in an online environment, we can reach a variety of students in a variety of ways if we’re open to being creative, engaging in collaborative work with our peers, and if we take student-feedback with open minds. Below you’ll find a resource for Shawn that will help you with your own project planning for students. 

Timestamps - 

How did Shawn come into the field of education? [1:56]

What keeps Shawn coming back to the online classroom? [4:32] 

According to Shawn, the biggest part about teaching is… [6:02]

How does Shawn meet the wide variety of student needs in his classes? [7:51]

The power of choice and connection in PBL [9:33]

The ease and challenge of differentiation [12:17]

Shawn's tech recommendations for online educators [14:15]

The importance of student feedback [16:51]

The morph in role from when Shawn started teaching online and today [18:04]

The hidden benefit of online teaching is something every teacher always wants [20:57]

Permission to wear pajamas?! [21:55]

Who was Shawn's favorite teacher/coach growing up? [23:13]

Teaching is leading… [26:54]

Resources - 

Oregon Charter Academy

Shawn’s Semester Project Choices FREEBIE

Guest Bio - 

Christine Voelker is the K-12 Program Director for Quality Matters, a global non-profit dedicated to quality assurance in online and innovative digital teaching and learning environments.  QM provides a scalable quality assurance system for online and blended learning used within and across organizations grounded in research and driven by best practices.  

Summary - 

Today Chris is going to teach us about what QM does and how their work supports the national standards for quality online education. 

Timestamps - 

Career transitions over the years and seeking greater impact [2:44]

What are the National Standards for Quality Online Learning? [6:55]

What do the standards for teaching cover? [10:56]

What do the program standards cover? [11:15]

What do the course standards cover? [11:53]

Similarities with the Danielson Framework [12:39]

What is the Learning Portal? [13:40]

QM’s mission statement [16:46]

Three-pronged approach to quality assurance [16:57]

What’s the course review process? [18:46]

What is Rigorous Professional Development? [19:39]

Quality Matters reviews are for you to see [21:23]

How does the work of QM complement the work of the Standards? [23:32]

What’s “QM Lite”? [24:50]

Becoming certified! [25:34]

Who was Chris’ favorite teacher as a kid? [27:28]

Resources - 

National Standards for Quality Online Learning

Quality Matters

Bridge to Quality Course Design Guide

Digital Learning Collab

Virtual Learning Alliance

Twitter: @nsqol; @k12qm; @qmprogram; @vllaonline; @theDLCedu; @voelkerc

Beau Neal is an educator, an administrator, and an entrepreneur seeking to improve the state of education not just in his home state of Oregon, but across the country. In the last four years he has co-founded a revolutionary online charter school, Frontier Charter Academy, and a first-of-its-kind educational consulting company, SYS Education. Beau is an advocate for online education and a believer in giving power to teachers.

Beau joins Natalie to discuss all our previous guests’ thoughts on formative and summative assessments. We learn to go beyond a grade and find worth in backward design and student-centered projects.

Timestamps:

Tim Batiuk’s ideas about student engagement and reflection [1:38]

Maddy Dahl’s backward design focus [2:51]

Ashley White’s ideas for chunking assessments [4:08]

Katie Schweitzer’s functional lens [5:37]

Our educators’ views are legit [8:19]

Beau and Natalie talk reflection in the grading process [9:09] 

Benefits of feedback loops [11:10]

Why am I learning this? [11:40]

Real world application as the goal [12:35]

Thinking in terms of function [13:05]

Assume kids will Google info and ask them to do something with it [13:22]

Why am I giving this assessment? [14:45]

Don’t forget your teacher prep learning [15:15]

Tiny home designs as assessments? [15:40]

Can we be more intentional? [16:27]

Resource Links:

Tiny House Project - Grade 5 Math

Guest Bios - 

Dr. Rachel McBroom is the Chief Academic Officer at NC Virtual. Dr. Thomas Cooper III is the Instructional Director at NC Virtual. Dr. Chris Smith serves as the Instructional Director at NC Virtual. These three leaders are bringing high quality online courses to students across the state of North Carolina. 

Summary - 

Today we will learn that virtual education can achieve its promise of providing high quality courses and instruction across socio-economic and geographic divides. Will will come to understand that teachers have the skills to create high quality curriculum themselves and that with proactive thinking and community support, a whole state can provide high quality online education to all its students. 

Timestamps - 

Remote teamwork tools [3:22]

NC Virtual - the origin story [5:26]

Who is creating the curriculum? [8:28]

Deaf and blind students access online learning too [11:33]

How the fully asynchronous model works for NCVirtual [12:40]

Grades and placement, who ultimately decides? [15:26]

The need for flexibility in timing of course completion [16:19]

Serving students with learning exceptionalities [17:44]

Filing the gaps statewide and providing career awareness [21:49]

What is Iwork? [23:32]

Rachel’s favorite teacher [27:32]

Thomas’ favorite teacher [28:45]

Chris’ favorite teacher [29:32]

Resources - 

Quality Matter Website

NC Virtual Website

Guest Bio

Maddy Dahl has been teaching online for 8 years. During her tenure, she has taught a wide range of classes from basic high school writing and grammar to AP English courses. When she isn’t teaching, you can usually find her playing board games or exploring Oregon. 

Episode Summary

Maddy teaches us about how to create an online AP course for students, how to help students earn college credits while in high school, and provides invaluable advice to teachers just getting started on their AP journey. 

Timestamps

Maddy’s exciting news! [2:13]

How do you create high school AP courses online? [3:50]

How the FCM works in an online AP class [6:40]

A focus on collaboration asynchronously and synchronously [8:53]

Supporting students’ organization, practice, and executive functioning [9:30]

All about formative assessments [11:50]

Collaborate and listen [13:21]

Partnering with community colleges [16:56]

AP and college credit courses are rigorous but different [20:25]

Maddy’s advice for creating your own online AP course [22:00]

Maddy’s favorite teacher when she was in high school [26:29]

Resources

Find Maddy Dahl at [email protected]

How-To AP Guide FREEBIE

College Credit Now (Oregon)

Frontier Charter Academy

College Board

AP Central

FCM Episode (S2 EP16)

Guest Bio

My guest today is Tim Batiuk. He’s been an online teacher and currently is chief technology officer at SYS Education LLC. Tim is one of us. He has taught at the elementary level online and currently works to support and drive teachers forward in their use of technology to meet the needs of all students. He’s passionate about UDL and is always willing to help educators implement the framework. 

Episode Summary

In this episode we take a deep dive into UDL - universal design for learning. This isn’t a gimmick or “thing of the moment” but a way of thinking about Engagement, Representation and Expression. It’s a framework for thinking and planning that requires us to look through a lens larger than our own personal lived experiences, preferences or needs. This is maybe the most important episode of the season. There’s so much to learn!

Timestamps:

• Why is Tim so passionate about UDL? [02:38]
• Accessibility is great! [3:48]
• Who is speech to text for? [4:20]
• How does UDL and ADA connect? [5:00]
• Tim’s thoughts on pre planned accessibility [5:32]
• Why is UDL important and relevant? [7:00]
• How UDL breaks down barriers and helps create equity [7:26]
• How does UDL look to students? [9:11]
• UDL is difficult but we do the work [10:15]
• How does a teacher incorporate UDL in their planning? [11:15]
• What is a question bucket? [14:18]
• Tim’s tips for visual presentation [17:40]
• What about students who need more processing time? [20:57]
• What’s the best way to provide a hyperlink? [22:10]
• The importance of a teacher’s voice [24:35]
• What does expression mean in terms of UDL? [28:20]
• Reflecting as a means of doing better next time [30:30]
• Tim’s call to action! [31:40]

Resource Links:

CAST’s UDL Guidelines

CAST’s plan to update the guidelines

Tim’s Question Basket Discussion Example

Guest Bio

Dr. Matt Rhoads is an innovator and expert in integrating EdTech and research-based instructional strategies to amplify student learning. He currently is an instructional leader and EdTech integrationist for a consortium of Adult Schools. He spent his prior years like me, in Special Education in K-12. He has also worked as a technology coach. Matt is also a lecturer of Education Technology, K-12 teacher candidate supervisor, author, podcaster, and educational consultant. 

Summary

Dr. Rhoads is everywhere in education and has collaborated with many brilliant educators. Today, we talk about his new book, Navigating the Toggled Term, and the future of online education.

Timestamps

Teaching adults vs teaching children [2:44]

What Matt learned from Navigating the Toggled Term [5:23]

What are successful schools doing differently? [8:13]

What is the coherence framework? [8:40]

The power of teachers leading other teachers [10:30]

Should districts continue to have an online option? [12:09]

Intentional online design vs emulating in-person learning virtually [14:19]

How do we prioritize activities for synchronous vs asynchronous times? [17:56]

Changing our perceptions and use of assessment tools [21:17]

Technology isn’t the driver of online learning [25:29]

Digital Promises, Learner Variability Tool [26:36]

Who was Matt’s favorite teacher? [27:45]

Resources

Matt’s Website

Navigating the Toggled Term Book

Digital Promises: Learning Variability Project

Guest Bio - 

My guest today is Cassie Pierce. This is her eighth year teaching. She has experience teaching both upper and lower elementary in very different school settings (private, public, charter etc.) with an equal amount of time both in-person and online. She went back to school to become a teacher while working full time at a not-for-profit hospice where she worked for six years. Cassie volunteered after work for a children’s bereavement support group and this experience coupled with her time in classrooms, inspired her to pursue an education degree. Cassie is also an instructional coach for online teachers. 

Summary - 

Today Cassie and Natalie talk about all things class culture and relationship building. You’re going to feel like you’ve just received a big hug by the end of this one!

Timestamps - 

We are a team! [2:48]

How the doctor’s office is like school [5:20]

The words we use make a difference [7:17]

Defining and building a positive class culture [10:20]

Offering multiple supply options [16:05]

Building culturally responsive curriculum [19:57]

Growth and process over product and answers [24:34]

Cassie’s favorite teacher [28:40]

Resources - 

Class Jobs Freebie!

Disability Visibility by Alice Wong

Dr. Katie Schweitzer is an administrator and truth teller. She knows special education inside and out and is a true servant leader in her school. As Special Programs Director and Elementary Principal at Frontier Charter Academy, Katie steers a small but mighty special education program that is showing other online schools how to work collaboratively and positively with students and families who have unique needs. 

This episode is a resource for any online educator looking for ways to effectively reach students with special needs, from technology to building trust, we’ll explore what it means to truly engage an IEP team in creating meaningful educational opportunities for students that will benefit them in school and in life. 

Timestamps 

• What accommodations easily translate from brick and mortar to online? [02:07]

• Katie’s advice to teams looking to create accessibility. [03:50]

• What advantages do students enjoy due to being online? [04:28]

• Katie’s ideas about hours students spend online. [06:27]

• Why you need to know your school’s framework and philosophy. [08:07]

• The importance of clearly communicating advantages and disadvantages. [09:42]

• What role do families play in supporting students? [13:48]

• How does Katie’s staff communicate with families? [17:20]

• Considering how families assist in progress monitoring. [19:02]

• Is online school more flexible for faculty and students’ schedules? [21:11]

• What can teachers do right now to assist students with special needs? [24:18]

• Katie’s suggestions about use of “real life” accommodations. [26:28]

• How do we honor the need for student engagement and connection? [27:52]

• Why should general and special education teachers co-teach or co-plan? [30:51]

Selected Links from the Episode

• Family Communication: Template for a Family Tech Survey

• • https://rb.gy/ulng7s

• Sound Practices for Holding IEP Meetings Online 

• • https://rb.gy/fys6v5

This episode was originally aired on 2020-10-22