The Husky Huddle
This is the 'Husky Huddle,' the podcast that brings you closer to the heart of Olean City School education. Whether you're a parent, student, teacher, or a proud member of our community, this podcast is dedicated to providing insightful conversations, expert advice, and a closer look at what makes our district truly exceptional.
The Husky Huddle
Cultivating Passion in the Classroom at East View Elementary
Unlock the secrets to making learning irresistible for our Olean elementary students as Laura Hodara, the energetic principal of East View Elementary, takes us on a journey through her innovative strategies for student engagement. As the first guest on the Husky Huddle podcast, Laura describes how her experiences have prepared her with actionable insights that are transforming the classroom experience. This episode is a treasure trove for educators and parents alike, promising to reveal how to cultivate an environment where students are not just present but passionately involved in their education.
During our conversation, Laura unveiled her three-pronged approach, which goes beyond the typical group activities, ensuring that students find joy, relevance, and self-belief in their schoolwork. We explore how East View's commitment to active student involvement is bridging the gap between home and school, thereby enhancing parental engagement and boosting attendance rates. If you're looking for ways to revitalize the educational experience for both students and the community, let Laura's enthusiasm for teaching and the school's successes inspire you to open the doors to a new era of learning.
Hello and welcome to our very first episode of the Husky Huddle, the podcast that brings you closer to the heart of Olyan City Education. I am your host, janelle Morris, and I'm thrilled to introduce everyone to our first official guest on the Husky Huddle, laura Hoderra, the principal of Eastview. So Laura came today to speak to us about engagement and all the other awesome things that are happening at Eastview, and thank you for being the very first guinea pig on this podcast.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you for having me. I'm super excited to be here and be one of the first guests on your show. You are the first guest, that is true, awesome. So I'm just going to give a little bit of background about myself. I am a first year principal at Eastview Elementary. I did a little stint as an assistant principal in the high school here at Olyan, and before then I was a fifth grade teacher for about 13 years and before that I was a teacher assistant. So I have seen all of the realms of a school and a little bit in the high school. So I bring a lot to the table and I get really excited when I talk about things like student engagement.
Speaker 2:So I'm going to give a little bit of information about that, because it is a passion of mine. It does so really, when we look at student engagement I think about how COVID impacted how we teach and how we learn and how our students really interpret a lot of that. And before COVID it was a little bit different and we really have to gear our students for learning in a post COVID world. They were used to almost two years behind a screen, implementing technology, utilizing those home resources, and now we're back to school and what we're seeing is that there really is there's a curve in how we need to teach. So as a classroom teacher and as I move into administration, I find that student engagement is super, super important. But it's more than just throwing together a group activity or pairing up your kids. That's stuff that really anybody can do.
Speaker 2:But when we talk about true student engagement, it's making sure that the kids have access to the material that they value, the material that they understand why they're learning it, but they also have that feeling that they can do it. So it's kind of like that three prong approach to engagement. More than just saying, okay, turn a talk with your partner, we need to make sure that the kids like what they're learning too. So it's kind of like that, if you visualize that three part Venn diagram kids need to like what they're learning, it needs to be stimulating, kids need to be accessible and know what they're learning, and then they need to know why they're learning and why it's valued. When all of that works together, you do have the true student engagement. And that takes time and planning more than just hey, go, turn and talk with your partner. So we work a lot on that in an Eastview. It's something that we're bringing on board. We're starting to embed those conversations into our grade level, plcs and getting our teachers comfortable with getting kids up and moving and how to lesson plan around student engagement.
Speaker 2:So I'm not sure what we've done in the past, but our teachers are very excited about it and I think what we're the most excited about is because as kids become more engaged and involved in their learning, the more they want to walk through our doors. So when we talk about student engagement, there are side effects that are a whole lot bigger. Parents are more involved because their kids know what they're learning. So kiddos can go home and actually have conversations about what they did in school instead of the what did you do in school today? Nothing. If kids are more engaged in their learning, they're excited about learning and we get them more involved, they're going to go home and share it with their parents. It creates a better parent school. You know community to school relationship. But then also they want to walk through the doors, which impacts attendance, and I don't know of any district locally or nationally that isn't struggling with student attendance. So when we think about student engagement, it can impact attendance as well. We got to get our kids through the doors.
Speaker 1:Right, right. That's fantastic. I'm so excited about what's happening at Eastview. That sounds like a great way to engage parents and families and students and bringing our kids to our students. We can't teach them if they're not there. Absolutely, we want our kids to be there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, one of the things that we're really stressing this year at Eastview, as they came on board is to really build that culture of love and learning. When our kids come through the door, my mantra to them and it's taken from your different video clips, lucy Laney Elementary is love them first, love them first, teach them next. Give them the support and love that they need and then we can teach them anything. The teachers at Eastview they probably were already doing it before I came on board, but they really have adapted to it and evolved with it now. Now we're starting to think about how do we progress that Now they know they're being loved and supported and we can meet their basic needs. How do we then stretch that into academics? Now we're going to start talking about lesson planning around engagement. How do we take a standard, unpack it and really look at at the end of this lesson I need my kids to be here break it into pieces, but meaningfully get the kids up and moving. How can we make sure that they have time to digest what we're teaching?
Speaker 2:You think about it in a way of a glass of water sitting on a table. If I keep pouring into it and I don't take a sip, it's going to overflow all over. A lesson is built the same way, so I break apart a standard. I teach one piece of it, we do an engagement activity to have some fun with it, and then we make sure the kids know it. Then we teach another piece of it, we build onto it, do an engagement structure, make sure our kids are getting it and then we move on. By the end of our lesson we should have like an exit ticket and really design our lessons to include the engagement but know that our kids get the target by the end and have fun while they're doing it. That's where we're starting to progress the Eastview between this year and next year. I'm super excited about the ability to teach my teachers and work with my teachers to enhance their lesson planning to include that engagement.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Yes, what do you want our families and community to know about Eastview? What's the most important thing that you want them to know about this wonderful school?
Speaker 2:At Eastview, our focus this year is to really take our mission that we just developed and share it with our staff, our students and our community so that they know when they send their kiddos through our doors, this is what our target is going to be. So we just had a really good faculty meeting about it, sharing the vision, kind of unpacking the vision, and I need our families to know that when your kids come to school, we're going to supply them with a quality education and make sure that they're having fun and they're safe, but everything we do needs to focus on teaching, learning, growth and the social and emotional development of their kiddo. That's going to drive our mission. So what I would like our families to do is check their backpacks when they return from break. It'll be the Monday after break. We're going to send home a copy of our mission statement just so that you guys know, as family members of our Eastview school, what we're going to promise as your kiddos walk through our doors every day.
Speaker 1:Okay, so beyond academics, what are some other ways that families and students are being engaged at Eastview? So you just had the superhero dance. That was amazing. So awesome to see the pictures on Facebook. So tell us a little bit more about that.
Speaker 2:So we have a very active BTO. We're always looking for more members, but we did get a bigger response this year and it's growing. So just to kind of backtrack a little bit, we did my goodness, we did the superhero dance. We do popcorn once a month where we're sponsored by local companies. They make a donation to our PTO and they get popcorn and our PTO comes in and pops it. We also did a book bingo night at the local Raymore and Flanagan where, like, we can really associate with some of those companies within our community and get a parents in it and do stuff like that too. We are going to have one more activity at the end of the year. We're not quite sure what it's going to be. We do have a couple sales that the PTO is helping with as well, but we also have the opportunity for parents to sign up to be volunteers. We do have forms to fill out, but if you want to come in and volunteer and be a part of our Eastview community, that is also an option within our classrooms Awesome.
Speaker 2:I also want to talk a little bit about our relationship with Cutco. It's really important and what I've learned is coming on as principal is that it's been a long-standing relationship. The people at Cutco have been amazing about supporting and being an educational partner with Eastview. They definitely donate things that we need for our drawings, but more than that, they come in and they interact with our kiddos. They are, they tutor during the day, they help out our teachers and then once a month they do a kindness luncheon where they bring in pizza and we celebrate kids that are, you know, doing the right thing and being leaders and kind and they're always willing to come in and do a little bit for us and we're very thankful for that relationship with Cutco.
Speaker 1:Awesome, awesome and it's great. Whenever you go to Cutco, they're always reflecting on this wonderful partnership that they have at Eastview.
Speaker 2:It's amazing. We're going to look for different ways to take what we already have and then how can we continue to build it. That also aligns with our district mission. You know, like when we talk about different initiatives that we have with belonging and leader and me, cutco, is very excited about being a part of that as well so we've had a couple meetings and what they can do to help support us there too. So they're great, they're fantastic.
Speaker 1:Awesome, awesome. So is there anything else that you would want to make sure that our family, students and everyone knows about Eastview, about you, about the kids, about the team there?
Speaker 2:Wow, there is a lot to say. Coming on board and being a new principal, I really am excited to be there. Our kiddos are fantastic. Whenever I feel bogged down in the work of being the building principal, I step into a classroom and get that joy from our kiddos. Our teachers are phenomenal and they're ready to move forward in our academics and our social-emotional learning. They're really ready to say, okay, this is where Eastview is, but this is where we want Eastview to be. So it's really important that our families know that Eastview is an amazing school. I couldn't be more proud to be the principal and I'm just super excited to see where we go in the next few years.
Speaker 1:Wonderful. I am so happy to have had you as my first guest. This was great and thank you so much in telling us about Eastview today.
Speaker 2:Yes, thank you. I'd be more than willing to come back and do another session.
Speaker 1:You will definitely be All right. Thank you. Unfortunately, that's all the time we have for this episode today. I'd like to make sure that I thank our guest, laura Hoderra, for joining me on the Husky Huddle and sharing her insights and her vision and the excellent work that's happening at Eastview, and also I'd like to thank all of our listeners for tuning in. Be sure to subscribe to the Husky Huddle for more discussions on education here in Olean and all the wonderful work that we're doing here in our community. So, once again, thank you for joining me on this exciting adventure. We can't wait to share, connect and huddle with all of you Until next time. I'm Janelle Morris signing off Go Huskies.