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
Saying Thanks!: Sarah Morris on Mentorship for Olean's New Teachers
This episode is a heartfelt ode to the art of creating a close-knit cohort of educators, where mentorship is more a lifeline than a line on a resume. Discover how unscripted conversations and regular meetups are transforming our newest Huskies into confident educators ready to tackle the classrooms of tomorrow. Sarah and I celebrate the proactive steps taken by our mentor-mentee pairs, leading to inspiring success stories that are nothing short of educational triumphs. So, tune in, find inspiration, and join us in cheering for the bright future of education in our district, one successful teacher at a time.
Okay, welcome everybody to our newest episode of the Husky Huddle, and my first thing that I want to say is welcome to Sarah Morris, who's coming back, and she's going to tell us more about the awesome things that we're doing in the district, and I'm just so excited to have her back on the show and welcome Sarah.
Speaker 2:Thank you, I'm excited to be back. Am I your first returner?
Speaker 1:No, jenny is. Oh, that's awesome. Okay, I will give that to Jenny. You're in good company.
Speaker 2:Yes, very, very much. So. I'm returning because I want to give a shout out to all of the new hires who did both of the mentee meetups so far this year and it has been so great. Like I said to you before, we were just kind of making sure that they felt connected and a part of the entire district. Well, now I have to say I am so impressed with them and the things that they have been very open about and honest about, and nothing of negativity. It's more like I'm so glad that you brought this to my attention, or I need to make sure that I'm thinking about that, and our last conversation lent itself to that, to kind of finding out that a lot of them felt very uncomfortable with the teach accounts.
Speaker 2:Oh, which is something that, like you wouldn't even thought of. That, no, not at all. So and I was like OK. So I told both Miss Duff and Dr I like I was like okay, this is something that they truly are like. I know that I have it, I know that I need to be aware of it, but I don't really even pay much attention to it. Out invitations for them to come to my classroom because the lgi is closed, um, for remodel. I said, come over to washington west and we're going to do just a power hour on teach, bring your laptop and the whole nine. And I just really was thankful that they kind of were very like I said, forthcoming in. This is an area of true weakness yeah, I've gotten through the year.
Speaker 2:We feel very sound. We spent um. I went and did some extra things for them for teacher appreciation.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Which was really nice. I had gotten cookies from the cafeteria, the cookies were awesome and they really appreciated that.
Speaker 2:And I think that whole thing of like you want to keep new hires, you want to make sure that they feel a part of everything, and so during that week we sat on a Wednesday afternoon for like an hour and a half and it's so interesting. You think, okay, I'm going to make this slide deck and we're going to get through X, y and Z and it's going to be in that timeframe, but the conversations are so fluid that it lends itself to kind of being longer and a lot more is kind of just free flow. And I love that too, that they don't ever feel like, okay, got to be out of here. And even when they've had to leave, they're so kind and like, sorry, you had to run out, but I had to ask them. Like you have lives, don't ever feel like you have to just stay, to stay. No, I will send out the slide decks, I will make sure that you get the information that you need.
Speaker 2:But the teach accounts was really interesting and I was glad too, because I think this is a great linkage with BOCES that something that we don't always take into consideration, that there's a lot of things through BOCES that the new hires might not necessarily always know the people, the resources to go to, the people that are linked to certain positions over there. And so I had talked to Jessica Palacastro and Isadora. I was like you know what, do you mind if I like go and do this and then from there, give your information to them and kind of let them go to you from there. And she's like Sarah, I think that's perfect and she gave me exactly right on the Teach account where she thought would be the best like starting point. Yeah, so we're doing that on the 30th and which is great. And I thought again like this is great for them because once July 1st hits, they're in their second year.
Speaker 2:Get it done. Now Let them get in there, get themselves kind of like the feelers back out for it, and so that's kind of it.
Speaker 1:So it was really cool they're going to need for the rest of their career. Yeah, no matter where they teach, no matter how they continue through their career, they're going to need to get into that account. So that's great.
Speaker 2:Yes, and it was interesting because one of them was saying and it was so sweet she said you know, I guess I didn't. I know that I'm going from my initial to my professional, but I'm really scared. I don't want to go in there and mess something up. And I was like, actually, you know what it's really?
Speaker 2:you really can't, and I know that is a very simplistic, it's very step-by-step, there won't be any ways. I would find it very hard for you to mess this up. And she's like, yes, but just having that extra like support while doing it to make sure that I've done everything I need to do, makes me feel better and I was like absolutely and supported by the district, so that's awesome. So it was again like one of those things of like where the program will go next year, with so many new hires coming into the district and making sure that things like this are then kind of remembered, because you never really think about those little nuances until somebody brings it to your attention, right?
Speaker 2:so I was very thankful for that. We did, um, I got balloons for them awesome which uh, went right to paper factory, so again, making sure that the community is involved in it. And the greatest part was, is the music department at the middle school must have had some going on, because they're all like, uh, sarah, can we take all these to go afterwards. And I was like, yes, please go. Like, take them, do what you need to do with them, enjoy them because they're for you, like whatever you choose to use them for. Um had done donuts and made some silly, like you know, cheesy signs, just because that's what teachers do. Like don't let you know how important you are. And then I had a bunch of bananas and it was like we're so thankful for you in bunches.
Speaker 2:And like yeah it was just like it was just a huge snippet of things, but they're like, of course, that the LEd teacher would completely think this way. But it's again to just kind of break the ice.
Speaker 2:And you know I just so I want to come back and just give them a quick shout out to say congratulations for making it through and being here, and this is a tough time of year. You've got the kids who are kind of bouncing off in completely different ways. You've had all the state testing. Now you have all the field testing going on. There's just a lot of things to kind of.
Speaker 1:A lot of field trips are happening now.
Speaker 2:There's so much stuff packed into the end of the school year that people aren't always aware of right, and just making sure that to do that check-in with them at this point. And the other thing that we discussed, which was great too, is when to put everything in from the handbook to make sure that there was a like definitive date, because with the high school ending, before we do it was making sure that that discussion was kind of laid out to them like hey, make sure you have at least one or two more meetups with your mentors yeah make sure you've gotten all of your logs.
Speaker 2:Um, they need to be handed into carolyn people. You know it can be right from your mentors side of things, but make sure you both have signed and that everything is there. And giving them kind of like a definitive date really seemed to ease their minds like okay not this, like I this, like I don't know when I'm supposed to hand this in, or, oh, I know I have to hand this in before I leave.
Speaker 1:Or it's optional.
Speaker 2:Right, right, it's not optional, right? Please make sure that you hand this in yes and again just saying to them like do you need an extra year? Would you like an extra year? This is not because you necessarily are, you know, being outed, but more like if you still feel that you can that you want extra support.
Speaker 1:Yeah that it's there for you and making that kind of just aware for them that that's something that they can do and be able to have. Do you think it's created more of a team model, then, of this cohort that's going through this together?
Speaker 2:I totally agree, and they actually made mention that they really appreciated this, that that was something that was very valuable to them.
Speaker 2:And it was nice to see that they really saw the value in it and they're like it's these conversations that take place in here that are, just like I said, free flowing and making those, when things come up, being able to say, okay, I have a voice and I want to make sure that I'm understanding this and I know who to go to if I'm not understanding it, besides my mentor or working with my mentor, to be able to, you know, see the people that I need to see in order to make sure that I'm doing what I need to do and being aware of that. It's just, it's really great. We talked about like unannounced and to make sure that they were kind of aware of them, and they would probably be coming up Like all those, just like I said, little nuances that happen at this time of year that go along with, like you're saying, the field trips, the regions, the whole nine.
Speaker 1:Right, it can be very overwhelming yeah very overwhelming.
Speaker 2:So I'm hoping next year kind of a goal that they said was like they should be like monthly or every other month and like they were voicing that. So I think that team effort is there and I think that they now have kind of a small camaraderie between themselves, like they might be in different buildings and they might be doing different you know sections, excuse me, like music versus math, versus science, versus social studies, but at least being able to say I know you when I walk in that room on the second like opening day, I'm not just going to know the people from my department, I now feel the comfort of all of these people that might be in my building or people, these brand new teachers that I've started out with that are part of my year, something that really just gets them to be cohesive, yeah, so I'm very thankful for that and I love their insight and their input and I know that I will definitely be going back to them, as this is kind of they were kind of the guinea pigs.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, like, will this work? What would you like to have? And we brainstormed a bunch of ideas that I had sent to Dr I of like things that they were kind of like could this be things that we do in the future? These might be things you might want to do with next year's cohort, and kind of just laying the map out for them and navigating that forward. So it was really nice to have, so I appreciated that.
Speaker 1:And not only did you guys do a connection with each other so that created that cohort, that relationship, because often when you start in teaching, if you don't have that person or group of people that you're able to connect with, it can feel very isolating and be very alone. But you guys not only did you create that model of cohort and that relationship between these new teachers, but you guys also inform them on other things, such as teach accounts, such as investment routes for teachers, so that they are able to take advantage of some of the things that are available for teachers as they think forward. When you're in the first year, you're frequently not thinking about any of that.
Speaker 2:Absolutely not, and that was nice to like, those those very open conversations and again, like that was brought up again about, like if you haven't started your 403B or if you haven't opened up something to really start putting money aside, like, please just be mindful of that or look into it with Tiana, like going forward so that she has it all set up for you come the fall.
Speaker 2:And they were like again very open to all of that and they were saying, you know, like, can we have more of these as far as like just the little things of like the tips and tricks, of like how to maneuver in parent square and how to like all of those things that we all just sometimes forget that are needed, and really honing in on the things that they said and using them as a baseline and whatever the next cohort says that they need, obviously you, just you know you pivot to that next sector but, at the same time, having that ability to just say, okay, this is the starting point and you guys really helped grow this in a complete way and, like I said, continuing to go back to them and be like, okay, if I'm looking at this going forward and I'm trying to map out my thoughts for next year's cohort, what would you say the top five would be for afternoon after school meetups maybe, as you know, classroom management and whatnot. And a lot of them took on classroom management as being something that they were just feeling like. They wanted to see other teachers who were veteran teachers and it was really great. We had some from the high school actually go down to the LA buildings and watch, which was really great because, again, we are all one community. We are all part of this together. So please go and see teachers from different avenues, because you don't. You could pull something like oh my goodness, that's kindergarten teacher, use this, and it would totally work in my ninth grade social studies class and not even realize that that's possible.
Speaker 2:The Kagan strategies pulling those out and saying you can use these in any route and letting them know that they're there and that's a cooperative. The cooperative learning strategies and structures are huge to make those communities inside each classroom as well. So they were really receptive to all of that. I had someone up here at the high school level. She went to her mentor and she actually was able to go around and set up a whole day with school business and she went from like classroom and then she gave herself a prep period to be able to like take notes and really dive into what she saw and things she wanted to take going forward. And I loved the fact that her and her mentor sat down and kind of like made that happen for her and really just gave her the time to feel success too. Like I'm not just rushing to the next section, I'm not just going from this classroom to this classroom. I now can like decompress.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And really reset myself and then take and reflect, yes, and reflect on what was just, you know, seen and every teacher teaches so differently. I just I've been up here today shadowing Jeff and Jennifer and we've done a couple on and off and it's really been captivating for me to see teachers up here, because it's a completely different realm. Of course, One of them made mention of crisscross applesauce and I go and I turn to Jeff and I go yeah, that's my world.
Speaker 2:That's not what you guys are, but again, being able to see that cross connections of all things going on and just being aware that we are truly in this together and keeping those cohorts feeling that way and be able to continue to grow those relationships Because, as we've talked before, this is something that they're going to need. You don't want to have that isolated feeling, but I just want to give them a shout out and let them know that they have done a fantastic first year and they truly are a part of the sled in a way that they might not even realize.
Speaker 1:So yeah, yeah. Well, big thank you to them, big thank you to you for all your work on this and I really appreciate you coming on and I can't wait to hear the next update as we go into the second cohort. I know, super fun If we're going to apply from the last group and what we'll do to support this group going forward. It just seems very exciting and it is definitely a best practice. Yes, yes, a model for others to look at and to prepare our incoming teachers to be lifelong professionals in our district and be part of our Husky team.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Go Huskies, all the time Go Huskies, well thank you so much for coming.
Speaker 1:Thank you, dr Morris, I really appreciate it. Have a great rest of your day.