Dr. Lisa Dieker, a professor at the University of Kansas in the Department of Special Education, and Dr. Rebecca Hines, a professor at the University of Central Florida in the College of Community Innovation and Education, have worked with schools and parents across the country. Dr. Dieker directs a center in the Achievement and Assessment Institute called Flexible Learning through Innovations in Technology in Education (FLITE) and Dr. Hines directs several doctoral grants and the teacher preparation program. In this podcast, they take a fun and informal look at "practical" solutions from teachers, parents, and people with disabilities. The approach in this podcast is to provide fast, flexible thinking about "real" life problems. This podcast is not about the "legal" approach but their best advice from personal and professional experience.
Drs. Rebecca Hines and Lisa Dieker, UCF faculty, kick off season four with ideas for “Spring Renewal.” In this episode, they begin with tips to begin the new year in the classroom. In addition, we are asking teachers to ask us problems that they would like some renewal ideas on. We look forward to receiving your questions on our Google Phone (407) 900- 9305, Facebook (Practical Access), Twitter (@AccessPractical), or Instagram (@Practical_Access).
Lisa Dieker:
Welcome to practical access. I'm Lisa Dieker.
Rebecca Hines:
And I'm Rebecca Hines. And we're excited for 2021. Yes, yay, we're here. Finally, for those of you who don't know, Lisa, personally, I will tell you that when she's been cooped up for a long time, she gets really air quotes, energetic, so I can't wait to hear what we're going to talk about today. Well, I
Lisa Dieker:
think we're gonna talk about today with all this energy season four. So I think we're kicking off kind of a new, I don't know, you had a great word for it. What was it? You
Unknown:
called it? What did I call it springs spring renewal.
Lisa Dieker:
We were like, 2021 renewal, but spring renewal. And so I think we're thinking this season to the spring, we're gonna ask teachers to send us problems that they'd like some renewal ideas, how to renew some practices, and we have a few already lined up. I'm
Rebecca Hines:
excited about the season. But today, Lisa, I think we might want to start with laying out the types of things to think about in this new year. Yeah,
Lisa Dieker:
yeah. And so, you know, I, I always start really simple. And you're gonna probably laugh at this one. But you know, we didn't go back to school online, or, you know, I hate to say it, but spring is a time of puberty. And I know that happens all year. But especially as we think about spring break, kids who are kind of heading into puberty get really antsy. So I always kind of say the
Rebecca Hines:
And I think one of the good points that you made there is we teachers always assume I like to overgeneralize we don't always assume but we sometimes assume everybody had a good break. Everybody had a good time. And I do think it's a good time to take stock of our students and to figure out what do they what do they need right now, even, you mentioned some hygiene types of things
Lisa Dieker:
Yeah, and you know, as we renew with teachers, we always like to talk with parents, it's also a good time to investigate things like deodorant, shaving toothbrush,
Unknown:
you know, I
Lisa Dieker:
never said in middle school, I would, you know, go up and wet his toothbrush, pretty sure you never brush them. So you can we have the dental bills to show that. So, you know, it's those kinds of things that I think as we go into the spring, and we do, we are excited to see maybe a future happening that that will be in the positive, but I think it's a great time to renew. My other one
Rebecca Hines:
Yeah, I think that's a great suggestion to get some feedback from kids going into this new semester. A lot of the things that that that we'll do, obviously, are going to be shaped by our continuing pandemic. But I'm curious to see how things unfold in terms of actual going back to face to face. And what what this is going to look like, you know, part two of this school year
Lisa Dieker:
Yeah, well, I think we're gonna, I think online will be with us forever. I think everybody expects a little bit of difference. I think homework will be more online than it used to be, I don't know, I used to be like, get rid of the paper pencil. Well, now it's, it's gone. It's a choice, I think everything should be about choice. But I also think in the classroom, we'll see more
Rebecca Hines:
I definitely agree with that, wow, I don't see this. I don't see this going away, at least the opportunity of it. And the other thing that I think almost everyone who is forecasting what's going to happen in the future of education, from educators to business leaders, personalized learning is here to stay. So a student conceivably now has ways that we have seen and even vetted in
Lisa Dieker:
I have been really kind of on a mantra of saying, look, the biggest mistake we made is we get kids computers, and we forgot to personalize and individualize them. I mean, you and I both have very different working styles that our laptop, yours is the hunt and find in mines that color folder organized and it works for both of us in a different way. And I think that what we haven't
Rebecca Hines:
there? If I if I were returning to a traditional classroom this semester, the first thing I would do is to look around and make decisions about how my classroom looks in terms of things that are small like colors. Here's my here's my challenge to you guys who are teaching right now Go in, go online first and search color palettes for spring. What's new, what's fresh? What What do
Lisa Dieker:
Nor can you are you allowed to.
Rebecca Hines:
However, there are tons of people who have been cooped up for so long, they would love the opportunity to do something in their community. And I think you can find volunteer groups to help you refresh anything you need to in your classroom. If you're strategic, whether it's a service club in your area, whether it's a high school service club, whether it's a college service club,
Lisa Dieker:
think it's funny because I know of a teacher who of course wasn't allowed to paint because it was some union rule. And I get it. And what she did is she got all our kids to make quilt squares, and got a quilting club, and she covered her walls and quilts. And it was a kid's work, you know, talk about a refresh. And she said, I didn't do anything. Once I told the little quilting
Rebecca Hines:
like more of a fire hazard to paint change. But I think it's a great idea.
Lisa Dieker:
Yeah, well, and again, you know, sometimes there's different roles in different place. Maybe it was fireproof quilting, I don't know. But, but anyway, I do think that's what spring is about. And then my last piece of advice, and I think this is important for you, for me, for all of the world right now. But it's so important for our precious teachers, in our parents of kids with
Rebecca Hines:
Definitely. And to our listeners, we will be really digging into problems of practice in our in this season. So today, we're just kicking off the topic in general, we hope that everyone is safe and well. And we also recognize that we're in Florida. So we're thinking spring, and some of you guys are listening during the winter. And I'm thinking Wow, you guys are really forecasting
Lisa Dieker:
Yeah. And so we're ready for the season. If you have ideas, please send them we're wanting to really make this about your voice and your ideas on our Facebook page on our Twitter@accesspractical. And we would love your what we're calling problems of practice. And our plan is for this season, to just take those problems from either a voicemail or an email or a Facebook page,
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