Navigating Campus Relocation and Assistive Technology with Lauren Marold and Becky Barrett
Presented by:
Lauren Marold and Becky Barrett of Preston Hollow Presbyterian School join the show to discuss their remarkable seven-month total campus relocation. They share insights on leveraging assistive technology and native accessibility tools to empower students with learning differences, emphasizing intentionality and the creation of "technology learning profiles" to support long-term student success.
- The PHPS Difference Podcast
- Preston Hollow Presbyterian School
- ATLIS Learning Institute (ALI), education and networking program designed to prepare and support technology leaders in independent schools as they grow into their positions and expand their influence
- Technology for Leaders in Independent Schools (TLIS), ATLIS’s certification program specifically for tech leaders at independent schools
- Learning Ally, enabling the success of of struggling readers including students with dyslexia
Transcript
Peter Frank:
Matt, welcome to Talking technology with ATLIS,
Peter Frank:
the show that plugs you into the important topics and trends for
Peter Frank:
technology leaders all through a unique Independent School lens.
Peter Frank:
We'll hear stories from technology directors and other
Peter Frank:
special guests from the Independent School community,
Peter Frank:
and provide you with focused learning and deep dive topics.
Peter Frank:
And now please welcome your host. Christina Lewellen,
Christina Lewellen:
Hello everyone, and welcome back to
Christina Lewellen:
talking technology with ATLIS. I'm Christina Lewellen, the
Christina Lewellen:
President and CEO of the Association of technology
Christina Lewellen:
leaders in independent schools.
Bill Stites:
And I am Bill Stites, the Director of
Bill Stites:
Technology at Montclair Kimberly Academy in Montclair, New
Bill Stites:
Jersey,
Hiram Cuevas:
and I'm Hiram Cuevas, the Director of
Hiram Cuevas:
Information Systems and Academic Technology at St Christopher
Hiram Cuevas:
school in Richmond, Virginia.
Christina Lewellen:
Hello, gentlemen, how are you glorious?
Christina Lewellen:
Oh, that's
Hiram Cuevas:
a great word. I like it. I'm gonna go lose
Hiram Cuevas:
glorious too.
Christina Lewellen:
Okay, I'm so glad you both are glorious
Christina Lewellen:
today. I'm kind of feeling glorious because this is the
Christina Lewellen:
first pod that we're recording after our 100th episode dropped,
Christina Lewellen:
and I know that we have since had a planning meeting together,
Christina Lewellen:
but we have not been able to publicly thank our producer
Christina Lewellen:
extraordinaire, Mr. Peter Frank, for putting together such a fun
Christina Lewellen:
100th episode. So big. Cheers for Peter.
Hiram Cuevas:
Amazing. Absolutely amazing. Thanks.
Peter Frank:
That was a labor of love, for sure.
Christina Lewellen:
If you have not had a chance to listen to
Christina Lewellen:
it, Peter was able to take snippets and recordings from
Christina Lewellen:
previous episodes, and he had us respond to them and react to
Christina Lewellen:
them in real time. We were answering some questions from
Christina Lewellen:
our spouses, which was really fun. But he left a surprise at
Christina Lewellen:
the end that we did not know about. And I approve every
Christina Lewellen:
podcast, so I did not hear this until it dropped publicly, which
Christina Lewellen:
was the big zombie compilation. Peter labor of love is right,
Christina Lewellen:
like for real. How long did that take you
Peter Frank:
that's eating an elephant that is one bite at a
Peter Frank:
time. I was worried about procrastinating, but I was
Peter Frank:
pretty good about just grabbing 20 minutes here, an hour there,
Peter Frank:
just pecking away at it. I started before Thanksgiving,
Peter Frank:
just working at it and working at it. And it all came in the
Peter Frank:
last few days. It did come down to the wire a bit, but I was
Peter Frank:
still very happy with it at the end.
Christina Lewellen:
It was adorable.
Bill Stites:
I've listened to it multiple times. Nice. Same here.
Bill Stites:
It makes me laugh every single time, not to mention with the
Bill Stites:
background music, right?
Christina Lewellen:
So he grabbed every reference to
Christina Lewellen:
zombie and Zombie Apocalypse that we've ever said on the show
Christina Lewellen:
in 100 episodes, and the compilation of every single time
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we've made that reference is insanely funny. I listened to it
Christina Lewellen:
the first time when the episode dropped, I was on the treadmill,
Christina Lewellen:
and I actually just stopped running because I was laughing
Christina Lewellen:
and I was afraid I would lose my balance, and I was just like, so
Christina Lewellen:
shocked by how quickly all these zombie references were coming at
Christina Lewellen:
us. And so this morning, I was not listening to it, but I was
Christina Lewellen:
back on the treadmill, and I was laughing again, thinking about
Christina Lewellen:
it,
Peter Frank:
there's a lot to unpack. Yeah, you can listen to
Peter Frank:
it a few times and catch new things.
Bill Stites:
I like Barry chiming in at one point with
Bill Stites:
what was going on. I mean, it was just the little cameos that
Bill Stites:
showed up in it. I thought was quite amusing as well.
Christina Lewellen:
Well, we certainly stuck with a theme
Christina Lewellen:
through the first 100 episodes. So Peter, thank you for doing
Christina Lewellen:
that. Thanks for that labor of love. It was really fun. Such a
Christina Lewellen:
wonderful collectible. If you guys haven't gone back and
Christina Lewellen:
listened to that, just at least, grab the last five minutes of
Christina Lewellen:
the 100th episode to understand what the heck we're talking
Christina Lewellen:
about. It is pretty fabulous. So thank you for doing that. Peter,
Christina Lewellen:
absolutely.
Peter Frank:
And listen to the whole episode, not just the last
Peter Frank:
five minutes. The whole episode is fantastic. Is fantastic. It's
Peter Frank:
a great sample of if you've never listened to the podcast,
Peter Frank:
or obviously, if you're listening to this, you have, but
Peter Frank:
it's a fantastic representation of what we do week in and out.
Hiram Cuevas:
Now, Christina, I will say, I played the last five
Hiram Cuevas:
minutes for grace. And you know grace, you've met grace. Yep.
Hiram Cuevas:
And she just looked at me, shook her head and said, poor
Hiram Cuevas:
Christina. Oh, having to deal with you too.
Christina Lewellen:
Thank you, Grace. I am poor Christina.
Christina Lewellen:
Thank you. See, I actually feel like listening to everything all
Christina Lewellen:
at once like that makes a lot of people understand why I roll my
Christina Lewellen:
eyes so often on this podcast, just saying, Well, we have a
Christina Lewellen:
couple of great guests with us today. It is time to transition
Christina Lewellen:
into the real work. The thing we showed up here today to do, we
Christina Lewellen:
are excited to welcome not one but two, awesome people and
Christina Lewellen:
great leaders from the Preston Hollow Presbyterian school in
Christina Lewellen:
Dallas, Texas. Today. We have with us Lauren Merrill, and she
Christina Lewellen:
is the director of innovative learning, and we also have with
Christina Lewellen:
her, Becky Barrett, who is the technology and library
Christina Lewellen:
Integration Specialist. Lauren and Becky. Thank you for joining
Christina Lewellen:
us today. How are you guys doing? Great.
Lauren Marold:
We're good. Thank you for having us. Yeah. Thanks.
Lauren Marold:
So what we'll
Christina Lewellen:
start with is, I'd love to give each of you
Christina Lewellen:
a moment to just introduce yourselves, and then we'll get
Christina Lewellen:
into why we asked you guys to join us today. But first, let's
Christina Lewellen:
make sure that everybody who's listening understands a little
Christina Lewellen:
bit about who you are, and if you don't mind telling us a
Christina Lewellen:
little bit about the school as well, that'd be great. Yeah.
Lauren Marold:
I'm Lauren Merrill. I am the director of
Lauren Marold:
innovative learning for Preston Hollow, as Christina mentioned,
Lauren Marold:
this is a relatively new title. I've been the director of
Lauren Marold:
technology for the past five years here. This title change
Lauren Marold:
has allowed me to incorporate library services under
Lauren Marold:
technology as well, and then special projects for our schools
Lauren Marold:
so broader scope, because we're a very small school, so a lot of
Lauren Marold:
times we wear many, many hats. We're very excited. This is our
Lauren Marold:
first year in our new campus. We have been serving Dallas for 64
Lauren Marold:
years, and we were previously located in another area, and we
Lauren Marold:
just opened our new campus this fall, and so that has been a
Lauren Marold:
pretty all consuming experience, because we started construction
Lauren Marold:
and remodeling in February of last year and opened in August.
Lauren Marold:
So if you've ever done a full campus move in seven months,
Lauren Marold:
it's not for the faint of heart, but we did it. I have been
Lauren Marold:
working in independent schools for the past 18 years, primarily
Lauren Marold:
in educational technology and technology leadership, serving K
Lauren Marold:
through 12, and it's been my greatest joy, though, working
Lauren Marold:
here at Preston Hollow and getting to work alongside Becky
Lauren Marold:
and serve students with learning differences in the K through
Lauren Marold:
sixth grade age group. And now we're expanding through seventh
Lauren Marold:
and eighth in the next couple years. So a lot of change, but
Lauren Marold:
really, really proud work. And I'm also a T list certification
Lauren Marold:
council member, which I am very, very proud of. That work and all
Lauren Marold:
that we've done in such a short amount of time as well, Bill has
Lauren Marold:
been alongside and Christina, and we've really seen some major
Lauren Marold:
growth in that process and experience. And then many moons
Lauren Marold:
ago, I was a part of ECAD before it became Ali. Lots of amazing
Lauren Marold:
work with ATLIS as well. So very grateful to this organization
Lauren Marold:
for your support as I've grown in my career.
Becky Barrett:
And I'm Becky Brett, and like Lauren
Becky Barrett:
mentioned, I'm the Technology and library specialist. It's
Becky Barrett:
only my second year here at Preston Hollow, but I've been in
Becky Barrett:
education for over 18 years. I stepped away for a couple years
Becky Barrett:
and got to work for Soundtrap, which was a Spotify company,
Becky Barrett:
doing some podcasting. And then I also worked at another ed tech
Becky Barrett:
company, the social Institute. So about a year and a half ago,
Becky Barrett:
I texted Lauren, and I've said, Oh, I see you have an opening,
Becky Barrett:
and my educator heart is pulling me to want to go back and work
Becky Barrett:
with students. So I'm so lucky to get to work with her. We
Becky Barrett:
actually crossed paths very briefly at another school, and
Becky Barrett:
so although we have a really small, amazing population of
Becky Barrett:
students, we get to know them all and work with them and be
Becky Barrett:
really intentional with the technology that we use, whether
Becky Barrett:
that's assistive technology or integration. And so I'm excited
Becky Barrett:
to be here. And I also did the ALI program, but during covid,
Becky Barrett:
so I feel like it was just a lot of zooming, whether it was with
Becky Barrett:
students
Christina Lewellen:
or Yes, lots of information swirling around,
Christina Lewellen:
I'm sure during those years. Yes, we wanted to bring you on
Christina Lewellen:
because we would love to talk about not only the population
Christina Lewellen:
you serve, of k6 learning differences, but also assistive
Christina Lewellen:
technology in this realm. But first we have to stop down on
Christina Lewellen:
this move. Yeah, you moved campuses in seven months. And I
Christina Lewellen:
am certain everyone listening to us, given that we have a
Christina Lewellen:
primarily tech director, tech focused audience is probably
Christina Lewellen:
having a heart attack. Yes, can you tell us a little bit about
Christina Lewellen:
that? And I think that I mainly am just looking for you to tell
Christina Lewellen:
me it was okay to bring all of the blood pressure down.
Lauren Marold:
Yes, we had an amazing group of board members
Lauren Marold:
and parents that really rallied behind us and understood the
Lauren Marold:
importance of saving this institution and making sure that
Lauren Marold:
we had a place that would sustain us for the future and
Lauren Marold:
give us the opportunity to continue serving and so we're
Lauren Marold:
very grateful for that. But from the tech side, I had a master's
Lauren Marold:
degree education, I would say, in how to do all of these
Lauren Marold:
things, and yeah, it was an incredible process. It was
Lauren Marold:
really hard. It was very grueling. It was all consuming
Lauren Marold:
because we had to do it in such a short timeline. We remodeled
Lauren Marold:
and renovated to 25,000 square foot buildings. We built a
Lauren Marold:
ground up 6000 square foot gymnasium that also is our storm
Lauren Marold:
shelter, because in the state of Texas, we are required to have a
Lauren Marold:
storm shelter that withstands 250 mile an hour winds. So I got
Lauren Marold:
to learn all of that code and interesting things that you
Lauren Marold:
would never really want to learn about, necessarily. But we have
Lauren Marold:
a really beautiful space. Place that is so unique, because I
Lauren Marold:
don't think you always are given an opportunity to design a full
Lauren Marold:
campus for the population you serve. And so we were able to be
Lauren Marold:
really intentional and thoughtful about the types of
Lauren Marold:
classrooms, way finding areas that would really serve our
Lauren Marold:
learning difference population, and that was really unique and
Lauren Marold:
special. And so while it was a bit of a hurricane in and of
Lauren Marold:
itself, we did survive. We did make it. Learned so much about
Lauren Marold:
the technology that we could put into this space and the
Lauren Marold:
infrastructure that we could have to sustain us. So yes,
Lauren Marold:
thank you for asking. But yeah, it's been really, really good.
Lauren Marold:
Peter was very wonderful and alongside me as I was going
Lauren Marold:
through this process, because we were also doing T list work, and
Lauren Marold:
so he's been very supportive in following along in the journey.
Lauren Marold:
But yeah, it's been good. We're really proud and have some great
Lauren Marold:
spaces for these students to learn.
Christina Lewellen:
So did the kids continue to learn? Did you
Christina Lewellen:
do a big move like the cut off point over a summer or a break
Christina Lewellen:
like, how did you keep teaching and keep serving your student
Christina Lewellen:
population amidst the chaos?
Lauren Marold:
Yeah, so we pretty much finished the school
Lauren Marold:
year, and all of June, we packed and teachers packed up their
Lauren Marold:
classrooms. They were required by the time they left school,
Lauren Marold:
they had to have their classrooms packed and ready. We
Lauren Marold:
finished packing as an admin team, we moved the first week of
Lauren Marold:
August, all of the stuff from the old campus, 64 years worth
Lauren Marold:
of things, to the new campus. And then the second week of
Lauren Marold:
August, teachers came, unpacked their classrooms, set them up.
Lauren Marold:
The third week we had in service, the fourth week we had
Lauren Marold:
students. And so it's been amazing. I mean, you couldn't
Lauren Marold:
really guarantee all of those things to happen, but it did,
Lauren Marold:
and now it feels like home.
Christina Lewellen:
So Bill and Hiram, does this give you
Christina Lewellen:
anxiety? Do you have second hand anxiety?
Bill Stites:
Or I'm just jealous of the time it took them to do
Bill Stites:
it, and they were able to do it in the window of time that they
Bill Stites:
had, having just opened a renovation, right? And how long
Bill Stites:
that took to hear the timeline of this flabbergasted that they
Bill Stites:
got it done.
Becky Barrett:
We had some incredible contractors. Yeah, we
Becky Barrett:
had several contractors that were also really committed as
Becky Barrett:
families of our students, and they had a little extra bit of
Becky Barrett:
desire to get us in and moving.
Hiram Cuevas:
The scope of this project is just immense. I mean,
Hiram Cuevas:
having we opened up a science center, and I remember when we
Hiram Cuevas:
had to move just the science faculty right? And what a
Hiram Cuevas:
nightmare that was to move all of that gear and all the of the
Hiram Cuevas:
reagents and whatnot. Yes, it just speaks so highly of your
Hiram Cuevas:
community. Yeah, to get it done at that pace, and then to also
Hiram Cuevas:
come back early summer in order to get it done. Kudos to you
Hiram Cuevas:
all. That is fabulous.
Becky Barrett:
Thank you.
Christina Lewellen:
Yeah, super impressive.
Bill Stites:
So who are the students that you're serving?
Bill Stites:
What types of learning issues are they dealing with? Because I
Bill Stites:
think that's going to help set the context for the conversation
Bill Stites:
as a whole.
Becky Barrett:
So all of our students come to us already with
Becky Barrett:
a learning difference diagnosis. Mostly it's going to be language
Becky Barrett:
based learning disorders such as dysgraphia, mostly dyslexia. We
Becky Barrett:
do have some with dyscalculia. Everything that we do is really
Becky Barrett:
intentional with providing them with what they need. Our
Becky Barrett:
students will go to reading and math small groups. So while they
Becky Barrett:
might be in a home room of 10, they'll be broken into
Becky Barrett:
personalized reading groups of maybe four or five and as well
Becky Barrett:
as math. So everything is really intentional and personalized for
Becky Barrett:
them to make sure that they're successful.
Lauren Marold:
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that the thing that
Lauren Marold:
we do so uniquely is it's targeted remediation for these
Lauren Marold:
students so they can come within any time in that admissions
Lauren Marold:
period, so kindergarten through sixth grade, they are welcome to
Lauren Marold:
join us. But the thing that's really interesting that we do
Lauren Marold:
maybe differently than other independent schools that are
Lauren Marold:
serving students with learning differences is our goal is to
Lauren Marold:
mainstream them back to the schools that they maybe came
Lauren Marold:
from, or a school that would be more suited for them going
Lauren Marold:
forward. That doesn't mean that some of them won't still need
Lauren Marold:
learning, different, support and remediation past what we can
Lauren Marold:
offer, but I think that that's a really, really special gift to
Lauren Marold:
say these kids are capable, talented, wonderful children,
Lauren Marold:
and they just need us to support them in this moment, in their
Lauren Marold:
journey as learners. So we're kind of foundational education
Lauren Marold:
for them, and then they go back, and we have a high success rate
Lauren Marold:
of moving back into those mainstream learning
Lauren Marold:
environments. And part of this new campus has afforded us the
Lauren Marold:
opportunity to expand to eighth grade. We didn't have that.
Lauren Marold:
Base. And if you don't know anything about the Dallas market
Lauren Marold:
for independent schools, it's really interesting. We have a
Lauren Marold:
ton of independent schools, and we are now on the road that is
Lauren Marold:
kind of called the private school corridor. So there's a
Lauren Marold:
lot of private schools that are along this area. And so there's
Lauren Marold:
many, many options for our families. There are other
Lauren Marold:
learning difference options as well, but we are able to
Lauren Marold:
hopefully serve through that eighth grade timeframe now,
Lauren Marold:
because it's hard to move at seventh grade, that's just a
Lauren Marold:
hard point for life. I mean, Middle School is tough, and so
Lauren Marold:
we're really excited to be able to focus in our upper grades now
Lauren Marold:
on executive functioning. And it's maybe not so much about
Lauren Marold:
remediation. It's about what are those skills that will allow you
Lauren Marold:
to slow down a little bit, have a slower pace, have things you
Lauren Marold:
need to then be high school ready. So it doesn't change our
Lauren Marold:
mission. We'll still have students that'll leave at
Lauren Marold:
different points, but we'll also be able to look at high school
Lauren Marold:
as a different exit point, and hopefully still to those
Lauren Marold:
mainstream high schools.
Hiram Cuevas:
So you mentioned mainstreaming to the local high
Hiram Cuevas:
schools bill, and I actually did an audit not too long ago with
Hiram Cuevas:
the landmark School up in Massachusetts, and they were
Hiram Cuevas:
doing something very similar. I can only imagine, in addition to
Hiram Cuevas:
the move, the complexity of student records because of some
Hiram Cuevas:
of the state requirements that you also probably have as well.
Hiram Cuevas:
Can you share with us about some of the issues that you have to
Hiram Cuevas:
deal with there?
Lauren Marold:
Yeah, so it's interesting, in the state of
Lauren Marold:
Texas, as an independent school, we are not necessarily beholden
Lauren Marold:
to state requirements. So students can come to us. They
Lauren Marold:
have to have a psycho educational evaluation in order
Lauren Marold:
to be admitted to our school with a certified learning
Lauren Marold:
difference. They would have to go through either a public
Lauren Marold:
school and have the testing with an IEP or 504 plan, or they can
Lauren Marold:
go to a private evaluator, and so we are able to accept either
Lauren Marold:
but that's really the main piece of our process. There is not
Lauren Marold:
other kind of state limiters. I know that some states have
Lauren Marold:
different requirements around these types of programs and
Lauren Marold:
students moving between public to private, but for us in the
Lauren Marold:
state of Texas, that's actually not a challenge. We're not
Lauren Marold:
beholden to state testing and some of those other pieces, just
Lauren Marold:
because of how we're structured.
Hiram Cuevas:
It keeps it really clean.
Bill Stites:
It does. I've worked with a couple schools now
Bill Stites:
that deal with a similar population. If you have students
Bill Stites:
that are coming from the public schools and coming to you, I'm
Bill Stites:
assuming they're coming to you because they don't have the
Bill Stites:
services to support what they need in their buildings. So are
Bill Stites:
the public schools paying a portion of the tuition for those
Bill Stites:
students? No? Oh, interesting.
Lauren Marold:
Yeah, they're choosing to come to us
Lauren Marold:
personally. That's a choice. A lot of times we find families
Lauren Marold:
that maybe they are getting services in their public school,
Lauren Marold:
and that it's just that they want that small class size we
Lauren Marold:
see in our upper grades, especially that a lot of kids
Lauren Marold:
might be coming with anxiety on top of their learning
Lauren Marold:
difference, and so parents are seeking a smaller learning
Lauren Marold:
environment that will permit the student to Just feel like they
Lauren Marold:
have a little bit more space to grow at a slower pace and not
Lauren Marold:
just be a part of that bigger number of students.
Christina Lewellen:
So we wanted to have you both on the pod,
Christina Lewellen:
because one of the things that I've heard a lot in the last
Christina Lewellen:
couple years is that when technology leaders are making
Christina Lewellen:
choices about technology in the classroom that may provide some
Christina Lewellen:
sort of assistive quality, that it doesn't just benefit the kid
Christina Lewellen:
that it was intended for or the kids, but that there's a broader
Christina Lewellen:
benefit, usually because all learners are likely to benefit
Christina Lewellen:
from Some of these technologies. And I've heard that enough
Christina Lewellen:
times, whether we're talking about name pronunciation
Christina Lewellen:
software or actual other more traditionally thought of as
Christina Lewellen:
assistive technology tools, it just always comes back to
Christina Lewellen:
sometimes it's more helpful for the teachers, sometimes the
Christina Lewellen:
parents find benefit in it. So we wanted to bring you guys on
Christina Lewellen:
to talk about this topic, because I do think that even if
Christina Lewellen:
you're not in an LD school or serving an LD population
Christina Lewellen:
specifically, there's a lot of benefit here. So especially for
Christina Lewellen:
our listeners who may be a little bit newer to this realm.
Christina Lewellen:
How do you all define Assistive Technology
Becky Barrett:
at your school? It was interesting. We actually
Becky Barrett:
had a professional development just a couple weeks ago, so we
Becky Barrett:
were defining it for teachers as well. But just how can we
Becky Barrett:
support them to them being the students, whether it's having
Becky Barrett:
the text read aloud to them, or using their voice to type,
Becky Barrett:
versus getting kind of stuck typing all the words that they
Becky Barrett:
aren't sure how to? Spell. How can we make sure that what they
Becky Barrett:
are demonstrating is truly what they know, not just what they're
Becky Barrett:
able to produce? So when I think of all the different projects
Becky Barrett:
that we have, I think of what are some ways that I can again,
Becky Barrett:
make it really elevated, to enhance what the students are
Becky Barrett:
learning, but not hold them back with necessarily reading hard
Becky Barrett:
academic text. Maybe they listen to it or watch a video about it.
Becky Barrett:
Maybe they're not going to write a report, but instead they're
Becky Barrett:
going to create a podcast, or maybe they make something in
Becky Barrett:
Minecraft instead demonstrating area and perimeter, for example.
Becky Barrett:
So we just try to make sure that we provide these ways that, like
Becky Barrett:
you said, Christina, that all students can be successful. So
Becky Barrett:
in one classroom, it might be where one student is listening
Becky Barrett:
to Pebble go about a person that they're researching, whereas
Becky Barrett:
another student is going to skim it or read it, or maybe just
Becky Barrett:
listen to certain words read aloud. You'd really have to
Becky Barrett:
think just outside the box. What is the goal? What are we trying
Becky Barrett:
to get students to do, and how can we support them?
Bill Stites:
I can remember what was considered, at least for us
Bill Stites:
at MKA, we serve a broader group of students, but we do have
Bill Stites:
student support. Things that are in place. And a lot of the
Bill Stites:
things that you were talking about 1015, 20 years ago were
Bill Stites:
accommodations that were made that eventually became just
Bill Stites:
simply part and parcel of what using technology is. So when you
Bill Stites:
talk about the voice to text, well, we're doing that on our
Bill Stites:
devices constantly. Now, the ability to have text read aloud
Bill Stites:
to you that previously was a piece of software that you would
Bill Stites:
have to buy and have simply allowing student to have a
Bill Stites:
laptop to take notes, right? Used to be one of those things.
Bill Stites:
So it's interesting how the landscape of all of this has
Bill Stites:
changed. One of my longtime friends is in Apple System
Bill Stites:
Engineering, and one of his topics that he loves to talk
Bill Stites:
about is assistive technology, specifically what comes native
Bill Stites:
to a device. So how you can help empower your students and your
Bill Stites:
families with things that they already have at the ready. So
Bill Stites:
what are the types of things, the tools that you're using or
Bill Stites:
employing with students that might be available to everyone,
Bill Stites:
versus those that might be a little bit extra or a little bit
Bill Stites:
more that you'd have to dig in and find? Yeah, I
Lauren Marold:
think that's a great question. We spend a lot
Lauren Marold:
of time talking about accessibility tools versus
Lauren Marold:
assistive technology, because accessibility tools are what are
Lauren Marold:
built in to all of your native apps, just what you're speaking
Lauren Marold:
about. So, you know, Apple has their own set of accessibility.
Lauren Marold:
You set up a Chromebook and it starts talking at you, your Mac
Lauren Marold:
does the same thing. And so there are so many opportunities
Lauren Marold:
to use those tools and make it however you want it to feel for
Lauren Marold:
you, whether that is just making your font bigger on your Kindle
Lauren Marold:
so that you can read it better. I feel like mine is like four
Lauren Marold:
words per page because I cannot see. So that is, for me, a
Lauren Marold:
really great tool. But thinking about kids and the families you
Lauren Marold:
know, last year at the conference, Heather Ramsey and I
Lauren Marold:
did a session on assistive technology, and Bill knows my
Lauren Marold:
best friend. We stayed together a lot, but we really enjoyed
Lauren Marold:
that session because it was an opportunity to talk with others
Lauren Marold:
about what they're using in their space and how we are using
Lauren Marold:
assistive technology and the accessibility tools. And that
Lauren Marold:
was one of the biggest areas we talked about. It's just those
Lauren Marold:
accessibility features that's such an easy share with
Lauren Marold:
families, we have a guide that we've used where it's just like
Lauren Marold:
here are all of the different platforms, whether it's Google,
Lauren Marold:
whether it's your Chromebook, your Mac, your PC, everything
Lauren Marold:
has it at your fingertips for voice to text. And one of the
Lauren Marold:
things that Becky and I were talking about this morning that
Lauren Marold:
I think is really interesting and not to get too like
Lauren Marold:
academic, nerdy, but you have the different types of learning
Lauren Marold:
theory. You have andragogy, which is adult learning theory,
Lauren Marold:
you have pedagogy, which is child learning theory. And if
Lauren Marold:
you look at the two of those, andragogy is so focused on the
Lauren Marold:
learner. As an adult wants autonomy and wants to make
Lauren Marold:
choice and wants to be able to be the leader of their learning.
Lauren Marold:
And with students, we say it's teacher led. That's the meaning
Lauren Marold:
of pedagogy. It's always about the adult making those
Lauren Marold:
decisions. And so I think that when we're talking about
Lauren Marold:
assistive technology, it's such an opportunity to say, if adults
Lauren Marold:
are allowed to use voice to text on your text messages, or you're
Lauren Marold:
allowed to change your font size, or you need this tool to
Lauren Marold:
do X. Why would we not be having those conversations with
Lauren Marold:
students? We're in 2026 and it just seems like a latent
Lauren Marold:
conversation that we should be already having and looking at.
Lauren Marold:
And that's mainstream or LD learning environments, so I just
Lauren Marold:
get caught up in the fact that adults are given a lot more
Lauren Marold:
leeway in what we want and need to be able to be successful. So
Lauren Marold:
how can we think about our students and give them those
Lauren Marold:
tools as well?
Christina Lewellen:
I love that, Lauren, because I often say that
Christina Lewellen:
we have to remind ourselves what the end goal is in sometimes in
Christina Lewellen:
independent schools, in your case, it might be getting them
Christina Lewellen:
back to their public school with confidence and scaffolding to
Christina Lewellen:
succeed. In some cases, our independent schools might say
Christina Lewellen:
that the goal is to get them into a prestigious college or a
Christina Lewellen:
great, specialized training program, but at the end of the
Christina Lewellen:
day, as we all go out into the world and become adults, many of
Christina Lewellen:
us, anyway, have to make money and earn a living, and we
Christina Lewellen:
function out in the real world. And often I bring that
Christina Lewellen:
perspective back into schools when I'm speaking with leaders,
Christina Lewellen:
because I'm like, Yeah, but you're training these kids to
Christina Lewellen:
come work for a CEO like me, and I think that we absolutely want
Christina Lewellen:
to leverage AI, leverage tools to make us work smarter, faster
Christina Lewellen:
and in more comprehensive ways. Like, why would you struggle
Christina Lewellen:
with writing if that's your Achilles heel, right? And so in
Christina Lewellen:
a weird way, I love what you're saying, because, you know, from
Christina Lewellen:
the lens of an educator, I'm sure you guys are thinking about
Christina Lewellen:
allowing students some autonomy and how they learn, but from the
Christina Lewellen:
lens of like coming out into the real world, we're all using
Christina Lewellen:
these tools anyway. So why wouldn't we want our kids to be
Christina Lewellen:
as powerful with them as early as possible? Understanding, of
Christina Lewellen:
course, there's fundamentals to learn, but that does allow for
Christina Lewellen:
us to become more human humans, I think, and that's a big part
Christina Lewellen:
of the conversations we're having right now. So I wonder
Christina Lewellen:
what you think about that. I think
Becky Barrett:
it's also really interesting that we have to
Becky Barrett:
remind our parents of that too, that students can listen to,
Becky Barrett:
whether it's Learning Ally or audible, listen to a story that
Becky Barrett:
they're reading, and that's still reading, you'll still see
Becky Barrett:
in their brain the same firing of the neurons listening to a
Becky Barrett:
story as if they were reading, and so educating parents on that
Becky Barrett:
as well as students. And I think because we're so small, we get
Becky Barrett:
to have those conversations with kids, and that way they really
Becky Barrett:
are knowledgeable about what tools they can use. And that's
Becky Barrett:
our goal as they move on to maybe a different middle school
Becky Barrett:
or high school, making sure that they feel empowered to use what
Becky Barrett:
works for them and know themselves really well as a
Becky Barrett:
learner.
Christina Lewellen:
I'm so glad that you said that, because I
Christina Lewellen:
think that where I understand that there has to be the
Christina Lewellen:
fundamentals, I totally respect that you brought up the audible
Christina Lewellen:
thing, right? And so the best thing that ever happened to me,
Christina Lewellen:
I was a commuter in the Washington, DC area, 20 years
Christina Lewellen:
ago, and I spent hours in the car, and I picked up CDs at the
Christina Lewellen:
local library to listen to books. And something clicked in
Christina Lewellen:
my head way back then, which was, this is allowing me to be
Christina Lewellen:
well read. I was keeping up on all of the trendy books, as well
Christina Lewellen:
as all the business books. And then I went to do my MBA, and I
Christina Lewellen:
was able to supplement my reading in my car time. It was
Christina Lewellen:
incredible. And so, of course, it may not surprise you to know
Christina Lewellen:
huge consumer of podcasts. I love audio books. I mean, I'm
Christina Lewellen:
not just like a single platform, I'm an audible plus Spotify,
Christina Lewellen:
right? Plus the local library, like I have multiple audio books
Christina Lewellen:
at any given time, I think that it makes me a well read, well
Christina Lewellen:
rounded, informed human. So if we're taking this out of an
Christina Lewellen:
educational setting, why would that same not be true for kids?
Christina Lewellen:
Exactly?
Lauren Marold:
Yeah, well, and it's interesting. I've told
Lauren Marold:
Becky this anecdote before, but so I have dyslexia, and I was
Lauren Marold:
diagnosed when I was in second grade. I stayed in a mainstream
Lauren Marold:
school, but tutored three days a week, year round for seven
Lauren Marold:
years. And, you know, a lot of work towards remediation. But
Lauren Marold:
when I was a child, you could get a subscription. It was
Lauren Marold:
called the School for the Blind at that time in Texas, and you
Lauren Marold:
could get a subscription for a big cassette player, and they
Lauren Marold:
would send you the cassette player, and then they would send
Lauren Marold:
you your textbooks and other books that you needed to listen
Lauren Marold:
to for school, so that you could actually consume that
Lauren Marold:
information and have that as an assistive tool. And I just think
Lauren Marold:
about it was cumbersome. It couldn't go with you. It was not
Lauren Marold:
an easy tool to have. And so just thinking about having these
Lauren Marold:
tools at our fingertips, and every child can have, and every
Lauren Marold:
adult can have the tools that they need, that's really, really
Lauren Marold:
powerful. We live in a special time. I know we're all consumed,
Lauren Marold:
and I know Technology is everywhere and in every aspect
Lauren Marold:
of our lives, but when we start to think about, how do we use it
Lauren Marold:
as that support that's really amazing and very fortunate thing
Lauren Marold:
to be in this time.
Hiram Cuevas:
It sounds like you all have found that secret sauce
Hiram Cuevas:
to keep your parents informed, to keep your students up to
Hiram Cuevas:
speed on things when they go to their feeder schools. What kind
Hiram Cuevas:
of pressure are your parents and families placing on these feeder
Hiram Cuevas:
schools to. To allow and or augment their curricula such
Hiram Cuevas:
that your students can continue to succeed.
Becky Barrett:
We recently had Ben Kirby, who is an
Becky Barrett:
administrator over at one of our high schools that a lot of our
Becky Barrett:
independent schools for middle school feed into, and I think
Becky Barrett:
it's having questions and conversations with him about and
Becky Barrett:
other schools of what do you allow students to use? So that
Becky Barrett:
way, we're not giving students tools that they aren't going to
Becky Barrett:
be able to use when they go into high school, and also educating
Becky Barrett:
the high schools on what works for our students. Lauren and I
Becky Barrett:
are working on creating learning profiles for students. So that
Becky Barrett:
way, when our eighth grader goes over to Jesuit or Bishop Lynch,
Becky Barrett:
they will know everything that makes that student really
Becky Barrett:
successful, kind of like what Christina was saying, focusing
Becky Barrett:
on what the learning goal is. But how can we help support them
Becky Barrett:
with that tool? But I was surprised to hear that even at
Becky Barrett:
this very large high school, independent school, they have
Becky Barrett:
30% of their students that have some sort of diagnosis, and so I
Becky Barrett:
feel like our students go there really knowledgeable about what
Becky Barrett:
works for them, because they've been using those tools.
Bill Stites:
You know, I go back to my third grade teacher years,
Bill Stites:
which were many, many moons ago, but still resonate very loudly,
Bill Stites:
and we're touching on the technology that you can use in
Bill Stites:
support of the work that you're doing. And I go back to, like,
Bill Stites:
thinking about, Okay, well, you need to develop your handwriting
Bill Stites:
skills. You need to be playing with block. You know what I
Bill Stites:
mean? You need to be doing, yes, those things. And some of the
Bill Stites:
schools that I've actually worked with, they to some degree
Bill Stites:
a number of years ago, let's go back a little bit. But they were
Bill Stites:
very much like, not anti technology, but they were really
Bill Stites:
not wanting to leverage the tech, because they wanted to
Bill Stites:
build those foundational pieces. Yeah, and you know, as time
Bill Stites:
changes, technology changes, as the proliferation of it, the
Bill Stites:
ubiquitous nature of it, how do you work to thread that needle,
Bill Stites:
so to speak, in terms of teaching the practical skills
Bill Stites:
that if you're on a desert island, are still going to keep
Bill Stites:
you successful, versus those ones that why make life harder?
Bill Stites:
We were saying, you know, with teachers, we assume that they
Bill Stites:
can just use all these things. Why not students? Where do you
Bill Stites:
draw that line? Thread that needle to make sure kids are
Bill Stites:
getting what they need, whether it's with or without the tech.
Lauren Marold:
And we spend a lot of time talking about
Lauren Marold:
intentional technology use and thinking about it from a skill
Lauren Marold:
acquisition perspective. So if you are trying to teach a child
Lauren Marold:
how to write, and the goal is that they are learning grammar,
Lauren Marold:
and they need to be actually handwriting, and they're working
Lauren Marold:
on that skill, then that's what they should be doing. And then,
Lauren Marold:
if you're just trying to get a child to generate ideas, and the
Lauren Marold:
goal is to get as many ideas out of their head as possible, and
Lauren Marold:
the writing process is going to be arduous and slow them down,
Lauren Marold:
then that's a great opportunity to use any of our number of
Lauren Marold:
tools. You throw it into seesaw and do a thinking session. You
Lauren Marold:
have them do voice to text into a Google Doc. So it's really
Lauren Marold:
about what is the end goal, what's your purpose? What do you
Lauren Marold:
want to have the students gain? And so I think the other thing
Lauren Marold:
that's really important about the way our curriculum is
Lauren Marold:
structured. Students have 90 minutes of reading every day,
Lauren Marold:
and it is a structured reading program. They have 90 minutes of
Lauren Marold:
math every day, and it is a structured math program. And so
Lauren Marold:
there are areas where technology might come into those classes,
Lauren Marold:
but they're also very specific curriculum programs to work
Lauren Marold:
towards their remediation process. So then we have other
Lauren Marold:
areas of the day where we're doing other ELA type activities
Lauren Marold:
and social studies and science, and they go to technology class
Lauren Marold:
as a standalone class, which I know a lot of schools have moved
Lauren Marold:
away from, but for our population, it's a really
Lauren Marold:
intentional and purposeful opportunity for them. And so I
Lauren Marold:
think it's really deciding what the skill is, what are you
Lauren Marold:
trying to teach the children and the students? And then if it is
Lauren Marold:
a task, that technology kind of going into the same or idea, if
Lauren Marold:
the technology is going to redefine it and it's going to
Lauren Marold:
really help them grow and or if it's not at time where they need
Lauren Marold:
to work that hard, they don't need to go through the struggle,
Lauren Marold:
they don't need to live in their learning difference challenge at
Lauren Marold:
that moment where we could see success in a different way,
Lauren Marold:
that's when technology should be used.
Hiram Cuevas:
That hits home for me, as a former science teacher,
Hiram Cuevas:
because I remember having a conversation with one of our
Hiram Cuevas:
math teachers because he was so focused on them actually doing
Hiram Cuevas:
the graph, constructing the graph, and making sure the axes
Hiram Cuevas:
were a certain way. And I said, You do realize that in the real
Hiram Cuevas:
world, most graphs don't come out nice and clean, and so my
Hiram Cuevas:
concern was, you. Is it the art of graphing that you want, or do
Hiram Cuevas:
you want them to recognize functions within a coordinate
Hiram Cuevas:
plane that led us to a totally different conversation and
Hiram Cuevas:
utilizing some graphing applications that would allow us
Hiram Cuevas:
to actually focus on what are the functions? How are they
Hiram Cuevas:
related? What happens when you change exponents and they could
Hiram Cuevas:
see it, as opposed to spending all this time trying to graph,
Hiram Cuevas:
we accomplished two things. We taught them what the function
Hiram Cuevas:
should look like, yeah, and then we taught them how to graph so
Hiram Cuevas:
that they knew what they actually produced was correct.
Hiram Cuevas:
It was a really transformative time back in my former middle
Hiram Cuevas:
school science teaching days, but I hear you. I love what you
Hiram Cuevas:
guys are doing. Well, I
Becky Barrett:
think Lauren and I both have this great unique
Becky Barrett:
perspective of also having our own small children at home that
Becky Barrett:
are obviously in school, and they also have learning
Becky Barrett:
differences. So looking at technology from the lens of
Becky Barrett:
Creation versus consumption, you know, our kids aren't just on
Becky Barrett:
their devices for the sake of being online, whatever they're
Becky Barrett:
doing on their device, like Lauren mentioned, is really
Becky Barrett:
intentional. If you work at a elementary school right now, I'm
Becky Barrett:
sure you're hearing of like brain rot and Roblox and all of
Becky Barrett:
that. And that is not what our students are doing. It is
Becky Barrett:
nothing like brain rot that they're creating. You know, they
Becky Barrett:
are designing, they're working together, so we try to educate
Becky Barrett:
our teachers on that, but also our parents, when they come in
Becky Barrett:
for a tour and they are apprehensive about seeing, you
Becky Barrett:
know, a first grader with an iPad in their hand, but
Becky Barrett:
educating them on how they're using it, and it's not the same
Becky Barrett:
way that they might use it at home.
Christina Lewellen:
Yeah, I would imagine that there are
Christina Lewellen:
some misconceptions, yes, because we just lump it all into
Christina Lewellen:
one bucket. So how do you guys sort of drill into that and make
Christina Lewellen:
sure that both the parents and maybe even some of the teachers
Christina Lewellen:
understand? I mean, your school is probably different, but I
Christina Lewellen:
think in general, sometimes you get this visceral reaction from
Christina Lewellen:
educators that are like, No, it's too much, right? So how do
Christina Lewellen:
we tackle that? Yeah, I
Lauren Marold:
think that's an important question. I think to
Lauren Marold:
hiram's point, we change the questions around, what are the
Lauren Marold:
outcomes, what is the purpose? And you know, I think that if
Lauren Marold:
you've done any kind of ed tech integration, it can go two ways,
Lauren Marold:
and working with teachers, it can also be the we did the
Lauren Marold:
training and then it either succeeded or flopped. And so
Lauren Marold:
it's that continuous conversation. So we don't just
Lauren Marold:
do a training and then move on. We are continually talking about
Lauren Marold:
this. We're popping into classrooms. We're collaborating
Lauren Marold:
with teachers so that the intentionality is always
Lauren Marold:
achieved. And sometimes it just doesn't happen. It's okay.
Lauren Marold:
Sometimes it's a flop, and that's all right. But I think
Lauren Marold:
the questions are the really important part. And so I think
Lauren Marold:
you gave a great example of what are we trying to do with
Lauren Marold:
graphing? Is it graphing for graphing sake, just so that you
Lauren Marold:
can see what a graph looks like, or are you trying to achieve
Lauren Marold:
something else? And so if we're always looking at the skills
Lauren Marold:
that we're trying to give the students and how they acquire
Lauren Marold:
them. But the same thing I could say for faculty, what are the
Lauren Marold:
skills that we're trying to give faculty so that they can then go
Lauren Marold:
teach it and make it an application in their classroom?
Lauren Marold:
Because it's also overwhelming, I think, for us as
Lauren Marold:
technologists, we are consuming constantly, like, oh, this new
Lauren Marold:
tool, this new tool. But also it can be overwhelming for teachers
Lauren Marold:
if they have too many tools at their disposal. And I think
Lauren Marold:
we've seen that with AI. There's all of these platforms now that
Lauren Marold:
you could use anything to do the new skill you're trying to
Lauren Marold:
achieve in the classroom in an AI tool, which is great and all,
Lauren Marold:
but having a an understanding of what that tool does, is it going
Lauren Marold:
to actually achieve what you want it to achieve, what your
Lauren Marold:
schools policy about AI and the use of it in these different
Lauren Marold:
places, and so there's just a lot, and it's always landing
Lauren Marold:
back in intentionality.
Bill Stites:
How are you going about vetting the tools and what
Bill Stites:
gets you to a yes, but what also brings you to a no? Because a
Bill Stites:
parent could come and say, oh, you know, my kid's dealing with
Bill Stites:
this, and I was told that this would help. But if you look at
Bill Stites:
and you're like, that's not what we do,
Lauren Marold:
as we've said, we're very small, and so we do
Lauren Marold:
have the ability to control that in a better way than maybe other
Lauren Marold:
schools, because I've worked in the big K through 12, and that's
Lauren Marold:
a different beast. Of trying to control who's picking tools
Lauren Marold:
teachers are using them on their own, and trying to manage all of
Lauren Marold:
that is a different challenge. We're actually pretty slim. In
Lauren Marold:
my five years of being here, I have tried really hard to track
Lauren Marold:
use both at the student level and at the teacher level, to
Lauren Marold:
just understand how you're using it. How often are you using it?
Lauren Marold:
What's the purpose of the use we do this survey every year, and
Lauren Marold:
then we have conversations around every tool and that data
Lauren Marold:
piece I've always look at to see you know, only three people say
Lauren Marold:
they're using this tool. How are they using it, and if they're
Lauren Marold:
using it really, well, great. That's a tool we're keeping,
Lauren Marold:
even if it's only three people. And so I think it's really about
Lauren Marold:
the conversations and tracking the data. That's probably our
Lauren Marold:
first area. But then Becky and I test everything before it goes
Lauren Marold:
into the hands of the teachers. We try it out with a small
Lauren Marold:
sample of students. If it is a tool that a parent has suggested
Lauren Marold:
to us, we'll look at it and decide, like Becky had
Lauren Marold:
mentioned, we also have our own data set at home. It's really
Lauren Marold:
nice to have kids in this demographic of age in our own
Lauren Marold:
homes, because we can try things out at home before throwing it
Lauren Marold:
into the learning environment. But I think that it's really
Lauren Marold:
about looking at how the tool will be used, whether or not it
Lauren Marold:
will actually benefit our students, or if it just sounds
Lauren Marold:
like another time that they'll just be sitting on technology,
Lauren Marold:
we really try to avoid those tools where it's just a
Lauren Marold:
consumption. Most of our tools, if you were to look at them, are
Lauren Marold:
for evaluation, research or creation.
Hiram Cuevas:
I'm grateful to hear that you all have a mature
Hiram Cuevas:
vetting process for your applications. One of the things
Hiram Cuevas:
that I know I've been struggling with as of late is the
Hiram Cuevas:
introduction of all of these additional extensions, yes, on
Hiram Cuevas:
browsers. Do you all have a similar process for vetting or
Hiram Cuevas:
at least controlling and limiting the access to certain
Hiram Cuevas:
extensions?
Lauren Marold:
Yeah, so faculty, staff and students all have to
Lauren Marold:
go through a request process for adding extensions that is kind
Lauren Marold:
of run through our Google Admin Portal or other administrative
Lauren Marold:
management platforms. And so they would have to go through
Lauren Marold:
Becky or I to discuss it, explain the need for it, and
Lauren Marold:
then we determine if it's worth pushing out or not. For
Lauren Marold:
instance, we do use Read and Write as a really great Google
Lauren Marold:
extension. They have a fantastic, free platform that
Lauren Marold:
allows you to do highlighting. It creates the kind of shadow
Lauren Marold:
box that you can slide down as you're reading. You can do voice
Lauren Marold:
to text. You can do text to speech. You can do just a sun
Lauren Marold:
Drey of things within this one toolbar that's powerful, that's
Lauren Marold:
like a magic toolbar for our kids, and so that is a value add
Lauren Marold:
to their experience. And so we've pushed that out, but it
Lauren Marold:
can become very unmanageable. I can imagine, especially if you
Lauren Marold:
have faculty, staff and students able to download anything and
Lauren Marold:
everything as a
Hiram Cuevas:
quick follow up to that. What I find interesting,
Hiram Cuevas:
because you have since you go up
Lauren Marold:
to the sixth grade, we do, and we'll be
Lauren Marold:
through eighth soon.
Hiram Cuevas:
So Cole is going to be a real challenge, I think,
Hiram Cuevas:
because you'll have some kids who are 13, yes, and some who
Hiram Cuevas:
are 12, and we experienced that with our sixth grade, where he's
Hiram Cuevas:
like, we really shouldn't be using this. And we've tried to
Hiram Cuevas:
develop a policy that, you know, the school could serve as proxy
Hiram Cuevas:
as part of the enrollment contracts, but it's a lot of
Hiram Cuevas:
work, a lot of time commitment to try and get all that into
Hiram Cuevas:
place,
Lauren Marold:
it is. And we do have an opt in policy that goes
Lauren Marold:
out with our student handbook every year, so we update that
Lauren Marold:
constantly, and the families have to opt in no matter the age
Lauren Marold:
of the children, even if they're above 13. We want parents to be
Lauren Marold:
aware of the tools that we're using so that they understand
Lauren Marold:
and understand how we're using student information and student
Lauren Marold:
data.
Bill Stites:
Fabulous. You mentioned you know you're going
Bill Stites:
now from six to eight? Yes, because again, the transition at
Bill Stites:
eight makes more sense developmentally within the
Bill Stites:
context of schools, are you seeing more families coming to
Bill Stites:
you for this type of help, these types of support? I mean, if
Bill Stites:
you're growing, as you say you are, there's how you want to
Bill Stites:
develop school, but there's also, is there this push from
Bill Stites:
the community? Are you seeing more applications? Do you see
Bill Stites:
more people coming in for these types of supports.
Lauren Marold:
Yeah, so our first seventh grade class is a
Lauren Marold:
whole year out, so it's 2728 that would be our first seventh
Lauren Marold:
grade, but we have always served K through six, and families have
Lauren Marold:
asked for decades for us to go through eighth grade because
Lauren Marold:
they know that their child still needs more time that their child
Lauren Marold:
would benefit from the small learning environment. Middle
Lauren Marold:
school years are hard, and the social, emotional piece is hard
Lauren Marold:
on top of the academic piece. And when you put those together
Lauren Marold:
in a new pod of students at a new school, that just creates a
Lauren Marold:
lot more anxiety, and since kind of sometimes can send a child
Lauren Marold:
backwards if they weren't ready. And so being able to give this
Lauren Marold:
as an opportunity is going to hopefully be a huge gift. We
Lauren Marold:
have great enrollment numbers for next year. We're excited to
Lauren Marold:
see that families are very interested. We have rolling
Lauren Marold:
admission so we can actually take students at many different
Lauren Marold:
points. Years in the year, as they are diagnosed. And so I
Lauren Marold:
think that's a unique quality as well. You don't always know when
Lauren Marold:
your child is going to be flagged for learning difference
Lauren Marold:
and need diagnostic testing. And so sometimes parents will start
Lauren Marold:
the school year and decide mid year. You know what? This is
Lauren Marold:
really not the right environment, and we need to find
Lauren Marold:
somewhere else, and then they get to come to us, and the kids
Lauren Marold:
are very, very happy, and make a great transition.
Christina Lewellen:
I want to make sure that before we wrap
Christina Lewellen:
up, that we talk a little bit in specifics, because I think that
Christina Lewellen:
you've definitely piqued everyone's interest in terms of
Christina Lewellen:
how you evaluate these tools, how you're thinking about them
Christina Lewellen:
in a really intentional way. But do you guys have your favorites?
Christina Lewellen:
What are some of the common tools that you use, and why
Becky Barrett:
it's a big transition for our second
Becky Barrett:
graders as they go into third grade, and they're going from an
Becky Barrett:
iPad to using a Chromebook, and it seems so simple, but just the
Becky Barrett:
voice to text feature for our third graders is huge. It's
Becky Barrett:
built into their Chromebook, so it makes it really easy. Lauren
Becky Barrett:
mentioned also just the read and write is huge for them as well.
Becky Barrett:
So that was probably one of my favorites. But also just all of
Becky Barrett:
our students have access to audio books, so that's another
Becky Barrett:
one that I think is really important for them to be able to
Becky Barrett:
use, whether it's on Learning Ally or audible or whatever the
Becky Barrett:
platform they prefer.
Lauren Marold:
Yeah, and if you don't know Learning Ally, it's a
Lauren Marold:
really neat platform. You do have to have a specified
Lauren Marold:
learning difference, but it's wonderful because they not only
Lauren Marold:
can listen to it, but it also has the text on the screen and
Lauren Marold:
it highlights as they read along. They have 1000s of books,
Lauren Marold:
and it goes all the way through 12th grade, and they even have
Lauren Marold:
textbooks. And it's a really, really powerful tool. Many
Lauren Marold:
schools and school districts offer it even that non learning
Lauren Marold:
difference environments. So I would say that's one of my
Lauren Marold:
favorite for sure. And I think that if you ever walk into any
Lauren Marold:
of our classrooms, you will notice that there might be like
Lauren Marold:
a low murmur of children talking and vocalizing whatever it is,
Lauren Marold:
and they might be doing voice to text, or they might just be
Lauren Marold:
thinking out loud, but it's sort of neat, because it's not
Lauren Marold:
silent, it is very much active, and kids are getting that
Lauren Marold:
thinking out of their heads. And so I think voice to text is
Lauren Marold:
strangely the simplest, but also the most powerful in many cases.
Christina Lewellen:
I love that. And just like our tech teams are
Christina Lewellen:
helping teachers right now navigate a really complex world
Christina Lewellen:
of AI and AI tools, I would assume that your roles as tech
Christina Lewellen:
leaders in your organization is to help the teachers walk down
Christina Lewellen:
the path and understand what's available to them. So is there
Christina Lewellen:
anything that you can share in the way of advice for tech
Christina Lewellen:
leaders who are hoping to make their faculty feel more
Christina Lewellen:
comfortable with some of these options?
Lauren Marold:
Yeah, I think just being open to discussion
Lauren Marold:
and talking about, going back to the piece that we've discussed
Lauren Marold:
of what is the skill that you're trying to acquire for the child
Lauren Marold:
or the teachers, and basing it off the skill, and then deciding
Lauren Marold:
how those tools will benefit, and then going through
Lauren Marold:
intentional training for the teachers, and then going into
Lauren Marold:
the classroom for follow up and partnering. I think that's the
Lauren Marold:
biggest thing that Becky and I try to do is that if a teacher
Lauren Marold:
is nervous about applying a new tool, or they have a child that
Lauren Marold:
would really benefit, and they see that this child would really
Lauren Marold:
benefit from something to support their learning
Lauren Marold:
difference, but they just don't know it yet, have your tech
Lauren Marold:
leader come into the room. Have them come observe how the
Lauren Marold:
student learns, because they will be able to make a better
Lauren Marold:
suggestion based on that observation than then you just
Lauren Marold:
saying, I think they could benefit from text to speech. Let
Lauren Marold:
the technology person at your school, or the ed tech person at
Lauren Marold:
your school, be your partner in that and have them really see
Lauren Marold:
what that learner needs firsthand,
Becky Barrett:
I would add, even just offering to go in and teach
Becky Barrett:
the lesson or teach the tool and let the teacher sit back and
Becky Barrett:
help, but also observe the teachers get anxious too about
Becky Barrett:
introducing new tools and introducing a different way of
Becky Barrett:
doing things. So letting them be a fly on the wall and watch how
Becky Barrett:
it works as well is helpful. Takes a little bit off their
Becky Barrett:
plate.
Lauren Marold:
And one thing I would add to that we are really
Lauren Marold:
trying is we already have learning profiles for our
Lauren Marold:
students based on their learning needs, but having a technology
Lauren Marold:
learning profile that runs alongside the child that goes to
Lauren Marold:
each grade level so that when you move from second to third,
Lauren Marold:
your third grade teacher already knows that you really benefit
Lauren Marold:
from this tool, and they're not having to start from scratch.
Lauren Marold:
And then maybe those tools evolve, and it becomes a bigger
Lauren Marold:
tool chest, but not having to constantly assess. Six months
Lauren Marold:
into the school, you're like, Oh, I think this kid would
Lauren Marold:
really benefit from this. You already have that information.
Lauren Marold:
So. I feel like that would be beneficial to all kids.
Christina Lewellen:
That's cool. Yeah, yeah, I love it. A
Christina Lewellen:
technology profile for each kid. Ah, I love it. That is awesome.
Christina Lewellen:
So guys, I don't know if you knew this bill and Hiram, but
Christina Lewellen:
our esteemed guests today also host a podcast. So Lauren and
Christina Lewellen:
Becky, you guys have the Preston hallow Presbyterian school,
Christina Lewellen:
PHPs, difference podcast. Why did you guys decide to do this?
Christina Lewellen:
And are you as stunningly fabulous with your zombie
Christina Lewellen:
references as my co hosts
Becky Barrett:
Lauren and I both have decided that we could have
Becky Barrett:
a compilation of how many times we say we're excited. We're so
Becky Barrett:
excited to be here, and we're so excited to have guests, and so
Becky Barrett:
we try to not use that word. So our excited is probably your
Becky Barrett:
zombie.
Christina Lewellen:
For me, I noticed that one of the things I
Christina Lewellen:
do a lot is I say I love that, because I truly do. A guest will
Christina Lewellen:
say something, and then I'll say, I love that,
Becky Barrett:
right? You want to affirm
Christina Lewellen:
bills is 100% but it's obviously it's a
Christina Lewellen:
commitment. So what was the intention in doing that?
Lauren Marold:
We just really wanted to be able to bring the
Lauren Marold:
conversations that we're having inside the doors of our school
Lauren Marold:
about learning differences and the benefits of the different
Lauren Marold:
tools we have and or the work that we're doing to our
Lauren Marold:
community of parents, but also hopefully reach a greater
Lauren Marold:
community, both educators and other parents. And even if
Lauren Marold:
you're not in our school, there are things that we feel like we
Lauren Marold:
could be teaching others and how to support learning different
Lauren Marold:
children. And so it's just kind of that as we're moving into
Lauren Marold:
this next chapter in our new space, and with the growth of
Lauren Marold:
our campus, it's a way of extending the benefits that we
Lauren Marold:
have to our learning difference community in Dallas and
Lauren Marold:
hopefully beyond. So it's been fun. We're having a really good
Lauren Marold:
time. We're learning a lot, as I'm sure y'all know, and it's
Lauren Marold:
been a really neat experience. One thing that's really unique
Lauren Marold:
that I think we're trying to be intentional with is if we have a
Lauren Marold:
speaker on campus for a coffee and conversation, or parent
Lauren Marold:
education pulling them for 1015, minutes afterward and asking
Lauren Marold:
them some follow up questions, or sharing that information with
Lauren Marold:
parents that couldn't potentially be there that
Lauren Marold:
morning, it's just a great way to try to reach more families
Lauren Marold:
like Lauren mentioned, whether it's our community or or the
Lauren Marold:
Dallas community or beyond.
Christina Lewellen:
Yeah, that's really awesome. I almost just
Christina Lewellen:
said I love that, because I do. I do love it, all right. So
Christina Lewellen:
we're running out of time, but I have a question for all four of
Christina Lewellen:
you. By time this episode drops, we are heading into the second
Christina Lewellen:
half of the year. Tell me what the second half of your school
Christina Lewellen:
year looks like. All four of you.
Hiram Cuevas:
Treadmill is moving fast. Treadmill is moving
Hiram Cuevas:
real fast. So it's a matter of trying to not fall down at this
Hiram Cuevas:
point.
Christina Lewellen:
Don't fall off like you're listening to a
Christina Lewellen:
zombie montage. Basically, it's what you're saying.
Hiram Cuevas:
Hiram, absolutely. No, wait, 100% 100%
Bill Stites:
okay, I think it's interesting. The second half of
Bill Stites:
the year is normally me starting to prepare for the summer. And
Bill Stites:
it's interesting because I've talked about this construction
Bill Stites:
project that we have going on that we finally wrapped. I've
Bill Stites:
just gotten plans from our architect for updates, you know,
Bill Stites:
to other areas in the building that we're going to be starting
Bill Stites:
once school closes. And there's those things like we're already
Bill Stites:
talking about. All right, we need to get from here to spring
Bill Stites:
break, you know, and then from spring break to the summer. So I
Bill Stites:
am hoping in the second half, things can slow down a little
Bill Stites:
bit. You know, Christina, you're talking about running up until
Bill Stites:
the end of the year, and it's just getting crazy and crazier.
Bill Stites:
We've been running so fast for so long. I'm just hoping for a
Bill Stites:
momentary pause so that I can actually refocus on the things
Bill Stites:
that we need to do on the day to day before we start talking
Bill Stites:
about all of the new stuff that we now need to do coming into
Bill Stites:
this summer, the
Hiram Cuevas:
pause is the Atlas conference? Yes, there you go.
Bill Stites:
It's a pause and a recharge. Is the Atlas
Bill Stites:
conference?
Hiram Cuevas:
Yes, absolutely, yeah.
Lauren Marold:
I think I'm with Bill. It's that we had such a
Lauren Marold:
wild spring trying to get into the new building that I'm
Lauren Marold:
excited for this spring, because it might feel kind of normal,
Lauren Marold:
but I think that we will have a lot of forward momentum. We're
Lauren Marold:
with planning middle school and all of the pieces that are going
Lauren Marold:
to come with that we'll be wrapping up accreditation, so
Lauren Marold:
that's also been happening. PS, for all of you that love
Lauren Marold:
accreditation processes, and then just starting to plan for
Lauren Marold:
the next school year and getting to think about all of the next
Lauren Marold:
goals that we have, and Becky and are excited to plan our
Lauren Marold:
spring podcast, so that'll be fun as well. So excited. Yes,
Lauren Marold:
very excited. But yeah, I think it's going to hopefully be a
Lauren Marold:
slower pace. But you never know
Becky Barrett:
from a classroom. A technology perspective, I
Becky Barrett:
always feel like the spring, kids know so much. They've
Becky Barrett:
learned so much already. They have a full tool kit of tools to
Becky Barrett:
use, so it's just busy with projects. And also, like Lauren
Becky Barrett:
mentioned, getting ready for middle school, so getting to
Becky Barrett:
teach a sixth grade elective, I'm excited about that, but
Becky Barrett:
already preparing like what that's going to
Christina Lewellen:
look like. Well, I wish all of you a very
Christina Lewellen:
successful second half of the school year. I want to thank you
Christina Lewellen:
guys for joining us for this pod. This was super informative,
Christina Lewellen:
and I'm really glad that we kind of dug into these topics and
Christina Lewellen:
that we had you here to do them with us. So thank you so much
Christina Lewellen:
for joining us, and we will talk to you again very soon.
Lauren Marold:
Thank you. Thank you.
Peter Frank:
This has been talking technology with ATLIS,
Peter Frank:
produced by the Association of technology leaders in
Peter Frank:
independent schools. For more information about Atlas and
Peter Frank:
Atlas membership, please visit the atlas.org if you enjoyed
Peter Frank:
this discussion, please subscribe, leave a review and
Peter Frank:
share this podcast with your colleagues in the independent
Peter Frank:
school community. Thank you for listening. You.
