ChangED
ChangED is an educator based podcast for Pennsylvania teachers to learn more about the PA STEELS Standards and science in general. It is hosted by Andrew Kuhn, Patrice Semicek and Tony Mirabito.
ChangED
First Timers Unite: Tips for Your First NSTA Experience
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Step into the "magic" of NSTA conferences where first-timers discover a wonderland of knowledge while veterans strategically navigate a vibrant landscape of learning opportunities! Connect with fellow educators, absorb cutting-edge teaching strategies, and combat isolation through Julie Luft's insights on building educational communities that transform classrooms. Don't miss this adventure packed with self-care tips and networking secrets!
Want to learn more about ChangED? Check out our website at: learn.mciu.org/changed
Welcome back to the NSTA Philly podcast. I am Andrew Kuhn, education consultant at Montgomery County Intermediate and one of the hosts of the ChangeEd podcast.
Speaker 2:Here with me is Patrice Samacek, the other host of the ChangeEd podcast, also out of the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit in Southeast VA.
Speaker 1:We are thrilled to have you back listening to this podcast. Today we are going to talk about first timers and tips and tricks. Here with us we have Julie Luft. Welcome to the show, julie.
Speaker 3:Hi, I'm Julie Luft and I'm delighted to be here. I'm excited that you asked me. I'm the retiring president of NSTA and I am thrilled and excited to meet all the first-timers and experienced people who will be at NSTA in just a few weeks.
Speaker 1:Listener, you're going to want to tune in and pay attention for this entire podcast, because one of us creates an amazing analogy of nsta to other life experiences that multiple people have had I wonder who that could have been.
Speaker 2:Thanks for being here, julie.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me, and thank you so much for caring about science teachers. I think this is awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they've been so neglected for so long, no kidding. And what we're finding is everyone is just a silo Like they, just like it's stuck in their little siloed spaces and then they don't get the support that they need on any end. So anytime like I don't know, I've always struggled to with, like professional development days no one gets what they need. It's a whole blanket, like everyone gets the same thing and we would be angry if we did that to a class full of kids. That's right.
Speaker 3:Okay, in our profession that's hilarious because that's my line of work. I actually studied newly hired teachers and how they get socialized into school settings and what are the ways that can ensure that they are thriving and not just surviving.
Speaker 2:Julie, you have like a dream job. Are you kidding me?
Speaker 3:I do have a dream job. I have the coolest job ever. I get to work with the future every day, like I get to work with new teachers who are excited to be there. Who can see what their kids can do and can see new ways of teaching and that's all they want to do, and it is so exciting to be there. Who can see what their kids can do and can see new ways of teaching and that's all they want to do. And it is so exciting to be in the classrooms of these teachers every day.
Speaker 1:But like limitless potential too. You're like always on the edge of the potential, like what's coming up, what's next?
Speaker 3:the new, the growing, the expanding, that's amazing and it's crazy, because what's really wonderful about it it's that I get to watch teachers do the work they want to do, and that's where you see that potential. So I love that statement. Yeah, I get to see them doing what they just really, really want to do. It's great. I'm so jealous.
Speaker 1:I love that job and Patricia and I are going to apply for it now that we're pushing it out.
Speaker 3:But I think the role of preparing and working with teachers is just changing. That's all. And that's why, you know, things like the NSTA Philadelphia Conference are so incredibly important, because a lot of the times, a good number of teachers now don't come through university preparation programs, they're coming through different types of programs. So NSTA you know other organizations conferences are just a vital link to their own professional learning and they get to see what they imagine and what they dream they can do, and they get to talk to colleagues who are as excited as they are to teach every day, and it's the kind of thing that just makes them more vibrant and excited to do their work. So I think you're right, teacher education is changing and that's where you started at. But I think what it does is it opens us up for new opportunities. So at the university, preparing teachers is going to look different about five to 10 years, if not sooner. It already is. We're doing some really novel ways to prepare teachers that allow them to be more effective early on. So that's exciting to me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's exciting to me, yeah, that's exciting to me, something that we talk a lot about on our Change that podcast is that you might spend an entire career of being a student and then you're a student of actually education, learning about it, and then all of a sudden you enter into five walls. There's the four walls that are physically around you and the fifth wall that I like to call isolation, and suddenly you're caught off. So you actually, as a student and as a learner, had more interaction with the world than you do as an educator, because now you're like how do I get them into this space? So for me, the beauty and the power of these conferences is that it eliminates that fifth wall and makes it a speed bump. So you're still learning.
Speaker 1:What are some of these new practices? What's working best? Why are the philosophies adjusting? What's different? What have we learned about the brain that we didn't know before? So there's so much more that's happening since we were last a student in college, and that's not to take away from college preparation programs, but if it's been 20 years since you were in college, a lot has changed about what we do or don't know about the brain, just like a lot has changed about what we do or don't know about iPhones, or that they might not have existed when you were in college, and so now there's so much more out there. There's so many new things out there, and this is your key, this conference to plug into that and to get some exposure to different philosophies or different thought processes or different conversations and then open up the mind to well, what could this look like, what could this mean, what are the implications for me as an educator, in my classroom and for my students?
Speaker 3:I love that. That's great, and you're right, the opportunities to learn at an SDA conference are great. Today's educators, they interact in ways that I don't think we ever maybe you do. It is not a way. I grew up using chat or, you know, whatsapp or write. This whole digital system of connectedness is good and bad, you know.
Speaker 3:I think the upside is that a teacher has an emergency, they can text quickly. They get a response like hey, look, I have a kid who's got this problem, doesn't quite understand force. We just did this lab and I don't know what to do, and somebody can chat back. Well, hey, did you ask them this question or did you put the device in this configuration to kind of challenge their ideas? So in some ways you don't want that immediate feedback going on in a class, but if a teacher gets stuck, you can kind of get it quickly, which I think is really great, or they can. I've seen them like after class they'll text you know one of their colleagues and say, hey, seen them. Like after class, they'll text you know one of their colleagues and say, hey, I think this went okay, I'm going to change this for the next class, and so I think this is a great observation on your point.
Speaker 3:That idea of isolation is how we're knocking at. That looks a little different. But what I like about NSTA is the people factor, the human factor, and I think that's a component of isolation that we often don't think about. Right, the very moment to have somebody's attention and they're looking at you and they value you and they want to hear what you have to say, I mean that's something you can't take away and that just brings so much to a person. So I think that's the NSDA conference.
Speaker 3:You know you're sitting in a session and, right, you're learning about the brain, or you're learning about a way to kids ask a question, or or how we can anchor phenomena, use an anchor phenomena in something we're teaching, and you look next to the teacher next to you, who you don't know, and you kind of look at each other and go like that was a crazy great idea, I'm gonna do that. In that moment the person next to you is totally reassured and you're like I'm okay, yeah, and you feel like there's two things going on. You're getting reinforced from the person next to you, but you're also getting reinforced for your ideas about what you know you want to do and how you can just improve your craft, which I think is really cool.
Speaker 2:It's very cool.
Speaker 3:So I do agree with you. I think the isolation is huge, but I think we have ways to really navigate that now, and I think it's up for us in education to think about how do we use these social media resources in more powerful ways.
Speaker 1:What I heard Patrice was. Julie said that that was a great idea. I'm very intelligent and reflective and a voice for the future, so it's recorded. We can't take it away.
Speaker 2:I didn't hear any of those words come out of Julie's mouth. I think it was all like you want to be here. We can rewind the playback if you want.
Speaker 1:And what you said about the relationship piece is huge, because being able to connect with other people and this is essentially part of what I was hearing you say too is being validated for where you are and where you want to go. And I think a lot of times there are pieces where you think you want to go somewhere and then there's other information that might be contrary to it. And as good scientists whether we're capital S, professional scientists or lowercase s we dabble in science. We can ask lots of questions and we can be curious and, given that permission to wonder again and then that trickles down to our students we're able to empower them in that way as well. I think that's a true gift that we have from NGSS and that is being carried through with the NSDA conferences is like let's wonder, we can wonder again, we can. We don't have to know the answers, we can be curious.
Speaker 3:You know, you just said that and I just had a hit, aren't you guys? You're in Pennsylvania, right? Yes, ma'am, wait, isn't that the home of Fred Rogers?
Speaker 2:It is.
Speaker 3:He's on the Western side of the state. But isn't he the king of like? Wondering? He is he is.
Speaker 2:He's my uncle, uncle Fred.
Speaker 3:I think every Pennsylvania has some connection to him. I don't know, Everybody's got a story or are related as you are.
Speaker 2:Don't encourage it, Julie.
Speaker 3:It's going to continue.
Speaker 1:It gets worse, it won't go away.
Speaker 3:He brought up the notion of right just wondering, and you're right, I didn't know if there was a regional connection there. But I mean, the NGSS is about giving kids the opportunity to wonder about their world around them, like, why do sunflowers track the sun? I love that question. Or you know, I once had a kid run into my class and go why is there snow? That's a great question. That's a great question. That is a great question, right, isn't it great? And so giving kids just the opportunity to ask these questions and say that is like an awesome question.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I once had a. I even had a kid say how big is a whale? And I'm like that is an awesome question. Another awesome question. But, and I said, what if we drew it out in the parking lot? And so we spent the next hour kind of calculating and we ended up the next day they had to draw on teams, draw the size of the whale, and the principal agreed to actually pull their car into the middle of the whale so they could get a sense of how big it was.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. They're never going to forget that either, I don't know. They probably did, or they probably said wow, why were we outside doing this?
Speaker 1:I don't know. That's probably one of the things I would remember. We should ask more questions, we should investigate that. We should look into that point Right, because I could definitely come up with explanations, but it's resisting that I have the answer. Let me tell you the answer. Versus when you just said that about the sun power following the sun, I was like, oh my gosh, I like now want to look it up on YouTube. This is me, you know, nerding out. I want to see that happen because that sounds really amazing. But we miss so many of these amazing things that all come together to make up our lives. We can miss them because there is so much, there's so much information coming at us at once. We've got to like tunnel vision, and when we stop it or we pause it or, you know, when we act like it's a YouTube short and we zone in on the sunflower, we can learn some really incredible things that all come together to make this happen. Something else we've talked about before is getting an astronaut into space is a really big.
Speaker 1:So much is involved in making that happen. But you know, now we, the world, has gone to the end of space so many times we're like where are we going this time? Right, like, oh, whatever, we're like, no, it's a really big. A lot had to be figured out before that happened and we're still learning so much more that we don't know about it. And I think that's what's wonderful about this experience, about this conference, about NGSS, ngssing, using NGSS.
Speaker 2:NGSSing.
Speaker 1:Using NGSS as our model for learning is that when we think we know it all, we're just on the cusp. We've just started and there's so much more to do. I would say from my experience, whether this is your first time coming to a conference or it's your 31st time coming to conference, there is so much more new that you can do and experience and honestly, I would be excited as a first timer because I'll tell you this when I took my kids to Disney World the first time we went in the park, their eyes were beaming right, like everything was just. They couldn't take it in enough and everything was amazing. When we went back to that same park, they're like I want to go here, I want to do this, I want to do this, I want to do this. So really, their first time was the most amazing time because they were just soaking it all in like a sponge and then, as they returned, it was like, well, I really want to get this. So it became much more like an intentional, pointed experience versus kind of experiencing it all.
Speaker 3:You know, I think what's great about this conference is the new person comes in and they're like holy moly, there's a lot of stuff going on here, like I didn't know that Legos could be used to support kids learning, or that you know there are these kits that you can buy that can help you teach science. Or I didn't know that they crash cars and you can actually watch this and learn about that. You know, I think what's amazing are the ideas that the new person is kind of knows about. But what I love about the experienced person, the person who's come to this conference quite a few times, is they know just what they want to go get and what they want to learn more about.
Speaker 3:So if they're struggling a little bit with the NGSS and they're thinking like you know I'm having a really hard time figuring out how to do computational thinking I want to go to some of those sessions and they're picking sessions, not that they're kind of interested in, but that they know they need to get better as a teacher Right, that's what I really like about it.
Speaker 3:So, you're right, there's some of that real luster, you know, and shininess the first time you go, but the next time you go and the next time and the next time and the next time. You know you start to see the savviness and the brilliance of teachers when they start figuring out exactly what they need and how they're going to get better at their practice. And that's what I really enjoy and it's fun because you know they'll walk up and say, oh, I just saw this. This is really amazing and I'm like so, you know, tell me about it. I want to hear what's going on and what's. What does it mean for your kids and their learning and what does it mean for you? I think that's very, very powerful.
Speaker 1:I think what's so powerful about that and as a first timer, I'd be encouraged to hear this that you have people coming back on purpose because they know they can continue to build and hone their craft and, as you said, learn more, and they know this is a spot that has that information that they can seek out, so I love that. The other big takeaway is that NSCA is just like Disney. Right, that's what I'm hearing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, it is kind of like Disney. We don't like the rides.
Speaker 2:Your facts are crazy. Today he's coming with some like I don't know. That's good.
Speaker 3:Disney, I'm trying to think. We do have people dressed up. There's usually an octopus. Oh Yep, we do have.
Speaker 2:We heard there's going to be a Rocky impersonator this year. There could be.
Speaker 3:We have a jumping area, like, if you can come find me, I jump with anybody in front of a huge sign that says you belong here. Wow, really, I have a collection probably of over about 50 pictures of people jumping with me and it says you belong at nsta, which is awesome so I'll have to come find you in the jump, come find me.
Speaker 3:We'll jump and I'm trying to think we have. I mean, there's just all. It is kind of like Disney there's. You're exhausted at the end of the day, just like Disney. You're worn out, you just want to go to sleep, but yet you're like so excited. You're like I got to go for more.
Speaker 2:It's the good exhaustion where you want to go from like opening to close. Yeah, it's the good exhausted.
Speaker 3:It is, and I really like seeing that and it's wonderful. It really is good to see the new people as well as the people who are experienced, just soaking it all in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so do you have any tips or tricks for first timers?
Speaker 3:You know, I think that one of the most important things if you're a first timer is attend a first timer session. Yeah, so I actually do these. I'm going to do three this year. We'll do one virtually and then we'll do two in person. At the conference and at these sessions we give an overview of how to read the program. What are some highlights? Keynote speeches those are pretty important things. You probably don't want to miss those. And then we also make in the program. We talk about the different types of presentations that you can participate in. Right, there's ones that are by teachers or ones that are by vendors or exhibitors. If you're there alone, if you're there with friends, make sure that you divide and conquer. Sometimes that's a good plan, and sometimes you can go together too, but I think the first time, recession is just essential. Something else that I think is really important is just make sure and this goes back to being at Disneyland it's important to take a few minutes out of the day and rest.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, I can't stress that enough. I can't stress that enough. It's so overwhelming. There's so much good stuff and your brain is just like overloaded, and so if you don't take a minute, I know by like noon I'm like I need 10 minutes to myself.
Speaker 2:I need to get myself a little something to drink, a little Diet Coke or whatever and then just sit and like retain it all because there's so much that's coming into your brain. And for me it's easy to forget what happened at the nine o'clock session because I got some really good stuff at the 10 o'clock session. So making sure that you have time to like decompress and retain some of that is really important. It's a really good point.
Speaker 3:We have free coffee available and that's just like you can just sit for a moment and just think about what's happening, and I think that's that's just a great opportunity, you know, just to stop for a moment.
Speaker 2:Wear your sneakers. That's the other thing too. Just like Disney, wear your sneakers, especially in like in in large conference areas. You're walking in one side of the building for one session and then the next one. You're running to the next session to make sure that you're in that other space. But they're pretty big buildings and so making sure you wear comfortable footwear is really important, just like Disney. Andrew, this was actually a really good analogy. I'm going to give you some credit. I like that too.
Speaker 1:I agree no one by you was surprised with my great analogies. Patrice it, you were surprised with my great analogies.
Speaker 3:Patrice, it was good Bring a water bottle.
Speaker 2:How about that? Yes, oh, my gosh.
Speaker 3:Good shoes is great. I wouldn't have thought of that, because I actually just always wear shoes that I want to wear.
Speaker 2:Some people try to be too cute and I'm like, oh, it's going to hurt by the end of the day. That's right, You're going to have those blisters.
Speaker 3:That's going to be painful, that's gonna be cool. But bring a water bottle too. That's really helpful when you're rushing from session to session just to have some drink yeah, as I was thinking about what you're sharing about taking a break.
Speaker 1:The other part of that and again this is to go back to disney is that take a break as you see fit, what is working for you. So if you have, I mean, of course you wouldn't ever want to go to sessions, but if you're coming up to a third session in a row, you're like I need to go to the restroom and I need, like, take that break. Yes, you're going to miss the session, but it's good for your own mental health, and I know that you could get on any Disney blog and there are thousands of ways to, you know, go to the parks early and then leave for lunch and go to the pool and then go back to the park. You, you know everybody's got their own system for how they want to do it or they go late and they stay late. So it's okay, like sometimes, as you said, taking that break can be more instrumental to you and help the longevity of your experience, versus you might end up missing a session anyway.
Speaker 1:You might get to the end of the day and be like I'm done, I'm out, and really that was the one he wanted to go to the most. So being able to pace, but also listen to yourself, like do body checks every now and then to make sure you're like where am I at? Am I in a good spot? Can I jump in? Or do I need a minute? And to get you know my ninth cup of coffee so that I can keep it going.
Speaker 3:And teachers sometimes aren't very good about self-care. No Right, and you know cause they're there? We forget that all day long teachers are thinking about somebody else other than themselves. Yep, you know, from the beginning of the day to the end of the day they're worried about the number of kids in their classes. If they're okay, if they're learning, if they have food, if they have the right supplies and this happens too when they get in a conference. They just kind of forget about themselves. So I love the reminder of self-care.
Speaker 1:It's just so important because you're going to be better if you do that. Great suggestion, julie. You are welcome on every podcast because I feel like you say nice things about the things I say, so I really love having you in this space. It's a welcome change.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's hurtful yeah.
Speaker 1:Julie, thank you for coming on the podcast and sharing your experience and also the laughters with us. This information is good for first timers, but, I think, repeat attendees as well. There's a lot of really good, useful information here. So thank you for taking the time and to you, listener, for tuning in and spending this time with us. We look forward to spending more time with you as we continue to share information about NSDA and the conference coming up in Philadelphia.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you for having me, and I just want to remind all of the listeners out there that you belong at NSDA. You do, and we're glad you're there. Going to NSDA can be professionally life-changing.