Why Distance Learning?

Allyson (00:00.13)
I know on the 17th, that's a Wednesday, Thursday.

Seth Fleischauer (00:00.665)
All right. All right. We are are experimenting with pre pre recording banter. Sometimes we check in with astrology and Allison will give us a free reading by virtue of just being her co-host. She just gives us readings.

Liz Huson (00:06.298)
Okay.

Allyson (00:15.008)
And Liz, it connects with the star matter in which you were talking about our all cosmic energy, right? Yesterday.

Liz Huson (00:22.61)
All

Seth Fleischauer (00:22.729)
because Liz is coming off watching a Neil deGrasse Tyson lecture. Okay, yeah, we got to talk stars. So Allison, please do inform us what is happening right now.

Allyson (00:26.55)
Yeah. Yeah!

Allyson (00:31.586)
This week is a full moon on Thursday the 17th. You're gonna find yourself in a full moon. You might be in a period that is asking you to kind of hibernate a little bit right now, but always happy to say that full moons can be healing. But also this one might be a little volatile. So just be a little bit more relaxed. Take a little bit extra breaths as you move into Thursday and Friday, cause you'll have that full moon energy.

Seth Fleischauer (00:50.073)
Mm.

Allyson (00:59.828)
Sometimes that just means volatile can just mean closing one chapter or closing one experience and starting something new or coming to an end of something, but that doesn't always mean that you don't have frustration with it. So.

Seth Fleischauer (01:10.883)
Isn't that every full moon? Isn't every full moon a closing and an opening?

Allyson (01:14.67)
It's an opportunity. This one just seems the way that the placements and different intersections are. It just has a little bit more opportunity to make individuals volatile or give in easily to frustration. So just a reminder, take an extra breath.

Liz Huson (01:22.347)
Thank

Seth Fleischauer (01:30.026)
Today's podcast guest, Liz Hewson. How does that resonate with you?

Liz Huson (01:34.573)
Gosh, take an extra breath. mean, I can always use an extra breath to take a break. So if you're telling me I might need to take a break, I'll schedule some walks on Thursday, I think.

Seth Fleischauer (01:44.643)
There you go.

Allyson (01:44.91)
Or if anything gets too overwhelming, like it's the full moon, we're taking breaths.

Liz Huson (01:50.546)
It's the moon for sure. Is it true? Somebody said it's going to be an orange moon. Is that true?

Allyson (01:56.472)
orange super, it's going to be a super moon as well. So it's really exciting. And I believe, I believe, so I will double check that it will be our last super moon for this 2024 calendar year. So that's exciting as well.

Seth Fleischauer (02:09.089)
and for our listeners and definitely not for me because I totally know the answer to this question but what is a supermoon? I don't know what a supermoon is. Is it bigger? Is it just closer?

Allyson (02:16.782)
It just means it'll be, yeah, it'll be like you can touch it. But at this time, we're getting, you know, it's that time of year where they think sometimes things look a little bit closer. But yeah.

Liz Huson (02:19.161)
I don't know.

Seth Fleischauer (02:29.569)
Okay, and what an orange what, huh? What?

Liz Huson (02:32.946)
Somebody said it was an orange moon. They made that comment yesterday and I'm not sure what that means.

Allyson (02:33.166)
You

Seth Fleischauer (02:39.788)
Allison?

Allyson (02:39.99)
Yes, so there's different types of moons that they can be called, right? The idea of sometimes it's the strawberry moon, the orange moon. You also have opportunities for it being the harvest moon. So it's just following the different shades and or opportunities for what comes up in that season. So think lots of pumpkins.

Seth Fleischauer (02:58.145)
It's only occasionally that I understand what one of these moons are. It's like once in a blue moon.

Liz Huson (03:03.986)
too funny.

Allyson (03:04.632)
I like it.

Seth Fleischauer (03:08.666)
Alright, I'm asking ChadGBT what an orange moon is because I was not satisfied with your answer. An orange moon refers to the moon appearing in shades of orange. atmospheric conditions. But how can... is that true everywhere?

Allyson (03:21.72)
Shades of orange, sometimes that's just what it's called. You can just believe in the colors, because remember, the colors are the most beautiful forms, most beautiful form of nature.

Seth Fleischauer (03:28.963)
So maybe it's only, maybe only it's only an orange moon in Buffalo where Liz is because of atmospheric conditions. No?

Liz Huson (03:41.202)
Perhaps, maybe it's the great pumpkin. Linus is looking for the great pumpkin. So.

Allyson (03:44.046)
Yeah, I like the idea that great pumpkin. Atmospheric conditions, but the idea around this time of year, at least here in North America, when we're moving into the fall season, it's pretty typical that that would be called an orange moon.

Seth Fleischauer (03:44.66)
Hehehehehe

Seth Fleischauer (03:56.089)
Okay so this is also saying that the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox often appears orange because of dust and humidity in the fall air. That is the harvest moon. But this is that was last month. Okay.

Allyson (04:05.89)
That was last month. But this is not a moon podcast either. We are excited because it's here to be here as a distance learning podcast. And while I could spend an entire hour talking about the sun, stars, moons, all of the placements, and also argue why there isn't a 13th sign, in my opinion, I'm excited to hear, Liz, that you got to see some cool conversation last night from an individual you went and saw.

A talk from, correct, moving all around the stage. So which is what inspired the star conversation.

Liz Huson (04:35.898)
Yeah. Gosh, Neil deGrasse Tyson honestly didn't really know what to expect with one of his talks. What are you going to hear when you hear a lecture from an astrophysicist? And I don't know, I guess I expected it to be kind of somebody at the podium lecture. He was all over. He was hysterical. And, you know, at the same time, I learned so much about cosmic perspective, which is what his topic was.

I highly recommend if you have a chance to see him, to not pass it up.

Allyson (05:10.83)
Good to know about dynamic speakers.

Liz Huson (05:12.657)
Yeah.

Seth Fleischauer (05:13.123)
And I dropped, which I love to drop, it's my biggest jealousy-inducing claim to fame is that he was my professor in college. And it was just a series of stand-up comedy routines about astrophysics. It was fantastic. His energy is contagious, for sure.

Liz Huson (05:32.978)
Yeah, I might have to study some more astrophysicism because of him. Now I want to go read more of his books. And I never would have thought that was something that I would pick up on.

Allyson (05:33.325)
You took

Seth Fleischauer (05:36.693)
you

Seth Fleischauer (05:44.237)
Yeah, he does a great job of, of like taking science, hard science and making it accessible for anybody regardless of their background. Right. I remember he had us, Alison, you're not going to like this. well, cause he's an astronomer, not an astrologer. It's cause astrology came first. Yes, I know.

Allyson (05:59.48)
Well, just remember the only reason they call it astronomy is because astrology was already taken thousands and thousands of years prior, which actually means if you break down the word study of stars, but we can continue.

Seth Fleischauer (06:10.293)
Yep. I know. I know. I'm with you. He once had us because people were like, you know, maybe astrology works because of the gravitational pull of these different astrological beings in the sky. And he had us calculate the gravity of the moon, which is obviously the celestial being that has the most gravitational pull onto the earth. He had us compare the gravity of the moon versus the gravity of the doctor delivering the baby.

And the gravity of the doctor delivering the baby is like 10 times as much as the moon because of because it's over distance squared. Right. So he used that as an effort to debunk the theory that gravity gravitational forces were responsible for the effects that we see with astrology. Allison, what do you think? Of course it did.

Allyson (06:57.214)
that actually just did the reverse for me, because in the birth chart, like, it's so important for the moon sign that's also in your birth chart. And like, the main point about making a birth chart is your exact location, the exact time. And that would obviously involve the energies, the stardust energies that are all in the room, which would especially include the doctor. So I guess that confirms something for me.

Liz Huson (06:58.236)
Yeah.

Liz Huson (07:14.13)
energy that are only in the room, especially when we're out there. So I guess that's just something for me.

Seth Fleischauer (07:21.401)
love it. love it. The facts of our objective reality are always perceived through the lens of our personal experience. What is reality? Okay. Are you guys ready to record? Okay. This is our fun banter trial. Here we go. All right. We're going to start the episode now and here we go.

Allyson (07:30.506)
Yes. Is this really a cup in which I'm drinking from? I don't know. It could be a pencil.

Liz Huson (07:34.031)
You

Allyson (07:39.746)
Yay fun banter trial!

Liz Huson (07:41.647)
Yeah

Liz Huson (07:45.106)
.

Seth Fleischauer (07:51.319)
Welcome to why distance learning the podcast for educators who are engaged with live virtual learning experiences, whether they be content providers who produce and facilitate or educators who want to compliment their curriculum and learn more about the medium. interview content providers, industry professionals, field experts, and educators who love and use live virtual learning. And this week, our guest is our old friend, Liz Houston. Welcome Liz. Thank you so much for being here.

Liz Huson (08:16.486)
Huh? Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited and honored to be here.

Seth Fleischauer (08:21.645)
Now you might, you might, sorry, me start over. You might recognize Liz's voice from the, podcast episode that we did at ISTE, about five episodes ago. Liz was there in person, got to see the podcast recording and got to, participate there a little bit. And we do want to follow up on that and see how the experience was for you. But first, Tammy, could you please introduce our guest?

Tami (08:49.714)
I would be happy to. Throughout her career as an educator, from classroom teacher to distance learning specialist, Liz has been passionate about student choice and unique learning experiences that go beyond the classroom walls, spark imagination, open doors to new possibilities, and provide equity and access for all students. A former English arts teacher, Liz currently works as the distance learning specialist with the Eerie 2 Chatterclaw Cataragus Bosies.

and is an active member of the New York State Distance Learning Consortium and the Global Video Conferencing Education.

Seth Fleischauer (09:28.061)
And we wanted to have Liz on the podcast because not only is she a good friend of ours that we have done lots of brain gymnastics with as we think about all the different ways that we can use this amazing technology to meet the needs of students, provide new opportunities. But Liz is at a BOCES in New York. She is, as Tammy was saying, the distance learning specialist for that BOCES.

Liz Huson (09:36.892)
Yeah.

Seth Fleischauer (09:54.293)
And these ESAs play a critical role in the distance learning industry. They are often the gatekeeper for any given district to be able to do these experiences and they curate a lot of the experiences as well. So Liz represents a very, very essential role and we'd like to dig into how you see that role, how you see that responsibility and where some of the practical takeaways are for our listeners.

So Liz, thank you so much again for being here. I did want to zoom in on that experience at ISTE if you can remember it three months ago. What was it like listening to that podcast recording and how did it prepare you for this experience right now?

Liz Huson (10:36.956)
Gus, well, first of all, ISTE was just an amazing experience all around. I honestly didn't know. I've never gone. So I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. Everybody said it was this great conference. There's great sessions, but it is, it's almost like going to Disney for the first time. It's almost so huge and overwhelming and right. You need to kind of plan before, but you know, going to the session, being

Seth Fleischauer (10:57.075)
Just as overwhelming, yeah.

Liz Huson (11:04.458)
at the museum, we went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and, and saw some of the behind the scenes of distance learning programs that we've done and then recorded the podcast. It, first of all, it was amazing to be there. And, you know, I've worked with this provider and to see everything in person, just strengthen like, gosh, I love what they do. I love what they have. What else do they have? So super curious about that. And then to hear

at the recording session, what educators that were there, what they thought of what they had seen, because not everybody was in a similar role to what I had. were classroom teachers and whatnot and maybe didn't have the same experiences that I've had in distance learning. To hear their awe and wonder and kind of watch them chew on how can I use this? What can I do with a provider like this?

and almost see those sparks happening and those thought bubbles going. Pretty incredible. How did it help me prepare for this? talking with all of you is very natural because we talk about distance learning all the time and bounce ideas off each other. But listening to a podcast and listening to things like, gosh, what else could I say? What else could I share? Really thinking about.

Allyson (12:13.902)
you

Liz Huson (12:30.01)
what you might ask. I don't know if I'm ready for anything, but I think I'm pretty prepared.

Seth Fleischauer (12:39.162)
I love the I love the meta discussion of podcasting as you're on the podcast and we're talking about what's about to happen with the podcast and our questions. Here we go. Let's back up a little bit. So we mentioned a BOCES, a Board of Cooperative Educational Services, which is the what the ESA's are in New York and a couple of other states. What is like a quick overview of ERII 2 BOCES where you are and and

Allyson (12:45.57)
Yeah.

Liz Huson (12:46.3)
Yeah

Seth Fleischauer (13:03.501)
you know what your role is, what you see as your purpose within Eerie 2.

Liz Huson (13:08.786)
Sure, so like you said, a board of Cooperative Educational Services and there's lots of us all across the state. Our my department works with 22 different school districts, so I work with K-12 teachers all over, but Erie 2 Boces as a whole does work with 27 different school districts throughout Southern Erie County, Chautauqua County and Cattaraugus County. So if you know the Buffalo Bills, we are.

Allyson (13:37.164)
Yay!

Liz Huson (13:37.56)
One of yay bills, go bills. One of our school districts is where the bills are in Orchard Park, but we range all the way from up in that Orchard Park area, all the way down to the Pennsylvania border. So we have a pretty wide range of where our schools are. Some are more suburban, some are rural. And when I think about that, BoCES does a of the different shared services, one of which

Seth Fleischauer (13:38.755)
Bills Nation.

Liz Huson (14:06.916)
includes distance learning. With my role, I really think about how our rural districts can share different resources and share what they're doing and share. You know, we have shared video conference courses between some of our classes. So that allows for maybe a school that doesn't have a teacher of a certain AP class to teach students in another class.

via Zoom and give that opportunity for enriching that student's transcript before they go to college or giving them that opportunity. For me, I do help with that from time to time. I really help with, I like to say the crazy Willy Wonka sort of things. So when my kids ask me what I do, I like to tell them, it's like Willy Wonka. And they're like, mom, come on, you're crazy.

Seth Fleischauer (15:01.845)
Hehehehe. Hehehehe.

Liz Huson (15:03.026)
You know, for the record, I taught middle school, so you have to be a little crazy to teach middle school. but yeah, I think about, gosh, what, when you're learning, learning is fun. Where can we put the fun back into learning and share these things? And, you know, sometimes some districts don't have the funds to go places, go to a zoo or it's too far.

So some of our districts are pretty far from where our Buffalo Zoo is to be able to go, they take a bus, they could maybe stay 40 minutes if they had the funding to do that. So I love to kind of infuse all of that in and share opportunities. That's how I see my role. Like what can you do? What possibilities and why not? Try these things. Just try them. They're fun.

Allyson (15:52.878)
my goodness. I love that you just described it as Willy Wonka. That's the best way to describe your job because you do get to bring all the fun candies and different enjoyments and experiences to these wonderful students and also teachers that need support in different ways. You get to really be

Bringing the goods but also bringing the support and I also wonder you just mentioned middle school. I love a middle school teacher I agree like there has to be a certain energy that you bring to the classroom So I wonder just in the effort of us backing up just a little bit to get to know you a little bit more How was your where did you start off in education? And how did that get you to the role that you're playing as Willy Wonka distance learning? Where you are now?

Liz Huson (16:36.21)
Sure. once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away, I went to school, got my degree from Buff State. I have my bachelor's and my master's in secondary English education. I went off. Yeah. I taught, I love stories. I love teaching writing. You I love the kids seeing the magic in a story, but I started off teaching in West Seneca Central. I was a middle school teacher at West Middle School there.

Allyson (16:51.086)
Okay.

Liz Huson (17:06.506)
And I was there for a little over a decade, but something early in my career was transformative. I was very, very fortunate to be asked to go to a week-long professional development series to learn about differentiated instruction, which I thought, yeah, I'll go learn whatever, what I got to learn with Carol Ann Tomlinson. And that experience really challenged me to think more deeply about how

I was or wasn't responding to the needs of individual kids and how to make that happen. So that, as I left that summer institute and walked back into my classroom thinking about how to foster a differentiated classroom, how to actually put it into practice, and then watching how students made connections with what they were learning and were excited about their learning.

That's what made me a better teacher. that's, you know, that to see that teaching isn't one size fits all. It's not everybody necessarily needs or gets the same and helping a student unlock, you know, gosh, I can do this or I can do this in a different way from someone else and I can still be successful. You know, after having some kids that said, I've never read a book or I can't do that. I can't write that essay.

but breaking it down differently for what they needed and having them have some voice and choice in what they wrote or talked about and how they did things really was powerful. And I think that time in doing that and then working with teachers and training them in differentiation really helped me or helps me in my role now because things aren't one size fits all. And if I think about

So I have teenagers now, and one in college, but I think about when they come home, how was school? It was fine. Tell me something you learned. And sometimes, even when they're excited, I just, sometimes it's boring. And I don't know, to me, I just, so I was that middle school teacher. Again, sometimes you didn't exactly know what you're gonna walk into. Like I gave you a card at the door. What are these for? You'll see.

Liz Huson (19:29.254)
didn't really know what to expect sometimes. Kept the kids on their toes, kept them curious. But I don't know, when I learn things, sometimes it's play. I wanted to learn how to make pasta. Over the pandemic, learning how to do that, it's just, know, learning is something we do for life and helping kids in any way see that, all right, sometimes maybe it's dry, but it can be fun. And it really is something that's exciting.

It's cool to be curious. It's something that I think has followed me from those days. And sometimes you're not going to choose what you get to learn about, but a lot of times you do get to pick. And learning is lifelong. And if we're fostering lifelong learners, we really have to think about how to do that with kids that are growing up so differently than we did, really trying to think about

what's going to excite them. Thinking about things in terms of differentiation helps me do that in distance learning. Because, OK, well, if a teacher's studying ancient Rome and they're looking for possibilities of things they could do to enrich what they're doing with their kids, what can I find for them? So I often get to be that curator. They'll say, OK, what do you have for this? I don't know.

Allyson (20:55.438)
You

Liz Huson (20:55.728)
Let me go see. Like, I don't know what I have. Let me find something. So, you know, that too is super exciting to me because every day is different. And it's, meeting teachers' needs. It's taking something off their plate. And then they have a great experience. The kids have a great experience. And then they're looking for more. And as I build their capacity, while I might still be looking for things for them,

Maybe they don't need my support in their classroom with the video equipment and the audio equipment. They've got it. And then they're sharing with other teachers. And that's just growing incredible opportunities for kids.

Seth Fleischauer (21:33.699)
So I'm going to try to kind of summarize what you said a little bit and maybe dive into it a little bit more too. And yes, it's very exciting and it speaks a lot to like the purpose of all of this, right? So you're essentially saying, you started off with the talk about differentiation. That means to sort of meet each student where they're at. I also kind of heard this element of like kind of meeting the culture of the classroom where they're at, because there might be certain things where if you are studying ancient Rome, the kids...

Allyson (21:35.278)
So exciting.

Seth Fleischauer (22:02.509)
really latch on to like a certain topic within that topic, right? And it's something that sort of happens like via the culture of the classroom that they all want to learn more about the phalanx or whatever it is. so then, so disincerning

Allyson (22:13.6)
Oil lamps.

Seth Fleischauer (22:20.867)
provides the opportunity to bring in some of that content that you wouldn't find in the textbook, that you wouldn't find in even the teacher's own experience or anywhere at the school. can bring in that expert. You can bring in that content, that artifact that you wouldn't otherwise have access to because of the limited amount of things in your physical space. I do want to dive a little bit more into the differentiation piece because you started with that, right? So let's say I'm a teacher who

you know, I believe that distance learning, is terrible because I think I saw what happened over COVID and it was bad for me. And therefore I've written it off distance learning as, you know, a thing that just doesn't work. I'm struggling with differentiation in my classroom. It seems like there's never, enough time, for me to be able to give all of my students what they need. Liz Houston comes in and says, wait a minute. No, there there's another way.

What do you say to that, teacher?

Liz Huson (23:21.19)
Gosh, so that's a pretty loaded question and it would depend. would say, you know, there are so many little things you could try and especially thinking, well, gosh, I don't want to make three different assignments. Like how do I manage so many different things happening? You make a choice board, do different things that the kids may have choice. And let's say we're doing this through distance learning. So they're in their classroom. To me, the first thing that comes to mind, why not book three different field trips?

and have the kids rank them by which one has the most interest. So you're differentiating by student interest. And I'll add to this in a second. And then you could put the kids in these three groups. And if you have an aide or somebody else, you can use the school librarian or whatnot, have the kids go to different places, each experience their field trip. And then in those little small groups that they're in,

then they can come back and report, this is what I learned. This is what happened on my trip. This is, so then they're teaching because we know that kids often retain more knowledge when they're teaching somebody else, right? So one of the things I would do if I'm thinking about, you know, mixed ability groups in that situation as well, if the kids ranked their choices, what I might try and do within the groups, or if I had larger groups,

Allyson (24:30.552)
Mm-hmm.

Liz Huson (24:44.664)
is to put kids with different skill sets together. So again, differentiation sometimes takes a little more time. I'm going to be honest with that. You really have to get to know the kids, warm relationships, look at their strengths, look at where they might need to improve, understand their learning styles. And as a teacher, once you spend time with them, you get that. And I will say, in middle school, I was fortunate. I looped with the kids, so I had that for two years. So.

Allyson (25:12.297)
fun.

Liz Huson (25:12.816)
you know, they came in seventh grade shorter than me. And then, you know, they came in after the summer and the boys, you know, they were taller than me. Hello, Mrs. Houston. Like, who are you? Like, I don't know who you are anymore. You know, still goofy because they're still middle school. But like, you know, lots of changes going through so much. you got to know the kids and watched how they grew with skills and whatnot. But to know, like, OK, this kiddo, you know, you could give them roles.

Seth Fleischauer (25:16.323)
You

Liz Huson (25:40.236)
as well. And I know I'm making it sound complex, but it doesn't have to be. But if you pair kids within mixed ability groups, they help each other. They help each other, they lift each other up. If you're doing things, and again, have the kids think about how to learn and help each other. When I was in the classroom back in the day, so, and this could be done via distance learning, but back in the day, we did a poetry unit.

Kids say, poetry, Well, we did it all through music to start. We looked at theme and they picked out songs they knew and they gave me artists they liked and they were putting together a collection of poetry as a group using things they knew. They had to pick out elements and whatnot, like be able to find similes, metaphors. Then we started moving into actual poetry and they looked at that.

Allyson (26:13.006)
the

Hey.

Liz Huson (26:38.736)
They made Gifts of Poetry. But when they did their test, they worked in Google Docs. So this was, you know, I haven't been in my middle school English classroom since 2010. So this was 2009. So this was like, again, back in the day, the kids were in Google Docs. I would jump in, they had shared documents, but they were working together. Like, okay, they each have their own, but hey, they are chatting. Can you remind me what is assembly again? What's the difference? They help.

each other. So it was collaborative learning. They had to go into the pieces that they chose for their collection, but they lifted each other up. And let me tell you, when, and I, you know, I'm not a huge fan of state assessments and whatnot, but let me tell you, they nailed everything they needed to on those assessments with that. And I was asked, how did they do so well? Because I used, I started with material that was accessible to them.

Allyson (27:29.582)
You

Liz Huson (27:37.562)
what they liked, their choice, and then I built from there. I made it relevant. you know, can I always, if I was a math teacher, can I always make the Pythagorean theorem relevant? I don't know. I might try, but it's that, you know, your different groups of kids, what sparks them and what they're interested in, it might be different from the year before. And it might mean that maybe you change things up a little bit.

Allyson (27:49.934)
You

Liz Huson (28:07.228)
But I don't know, as a teacher, I don't want to do the same thing over and over. Because then I have the squirrel factor. If you couldn't tell, I'd hear the teacher next to me and wonder what they were doing by the fifth class. So it's OK to change things for the kids. It's OK to try new things. I think, and I say this, and this might be a little controversial, but sometimes when you differentiate and you have lots of different choices, there's that lack of control.

Seth Fleischauer (28:29.837)
You

Liz Huson (28:35.78)
If you're the one in charge and gosh, I don't exactly know what they're going to do with this. No, sometimes you don't. And you know, it's you learn with them and it's OK. Kids, you know, they you're really looking at what skills do they need. They can get those skills lots of different ways. So how do you help facilitate that as teachers were facilitators of learning? I don't want them just to be able to bubble in a sheet. What do they take from that? They're not going to remember that.

But I run into kids, yeah, I run into kids these days and like that I taught years ago and they still remember things we did.

Allyson (29:06.465)
my goodness.

Allyson (29:14.414)
Well, that in itself is like the best reward ever when you're like stopped in a grocery store and it's like, remember when we did this in 2009 and it was so, it still inspires me. But what's so inspiring that I'm finding from your approach to teaching and how you support your teachers is really the idea of the real life simulation that the students are gonna have no matter what job or field they're gonna be in. They're gonna work with people that construct knowledge in different ways.

Liz Huson (29:17.584)
you're like stopped in a grocery store.

Allyson (29:42.936)
they're gonna need to know where their skills are strong, even if it is the collaboration on the Google Doc, as we know very well the whole idea of where you put things in, how you're able to divide roles and responsibilities. And those are those skills that are important and can be really built into a number of different classroom experiences because it is really asking the students to have responsibility and what a wonderful model of learning in partnership, peers learning in partnership, but really the

Liz Huson (29:50.534)
Yeah.

Liz Huson (30:06.891)
and what a wonderful model of learning in partnership.

Allyson (30:12.224)
idea of the teacher learning and partnership because when you say, you know, that little lack of control, I think that there is a nice approach to controlled chaos, if you will, that you still know that everyone should have like their path so no one's lost in the forest, but you're able to let them have that agency. So being able, and I think sometimes as an educator, it's easy to say this is what needs to get done. And sometimes you do need that extra support, like someone like you to come in and say,

Like let's think a little bit wider or what's that out of the box thought? We might have to stay in a certain box, but what can we do within that box that is so different? And I wonder, I know that we just set up a certain scenario, for though, cause you work with interdisciplinary groups. So I wonder how does an educator connect with you in your role with you serving 22?

districts and all of the schools underneath. So I just wonder in your role, how does somebody say I want Willy Wonka? Like I want the golden ticket. How do I get them here?

Liz Huson (31:06.243)
then yeah. Yeah.

Liz Huson (31:12.624)
Yeah. So great question. I send out monthly newsletters and I mean, and maybe I should. That actually sounds like a lot of odd. You've just sparked an idea. I'm just saying. Anyways, no, I send out a monthly newsletter and in there I share different field trip opportunities and then I share some of our collaborations that we do across New York state and then just

Seth Fleischauer (31:16.575)
Candy bars? You send out candy bars with golden tickets in it?

Allyson (31:21.39)
An electronic one.

Seth Fleischauer (31:21.547)
you

Seth Fleischauer (31:27.033)
You

Allyson (31:27.416)
Yay!

Liz Huson (31:42.414)
our connection series to some speakers that we may have that month. But I ask the teachers, if you are looking for something else, email me. If you want to be on my mailing list, because how every district does communication from us might be a little bit different. So I invite them to connect with me. I also survey teachers.

I like, I'm a data person. So as much as I laughed about some of the numbers and some of the, the, the concepts with, with Tyson, you know, like, wow, they blew my mind. But I like to look at numbers. I like to look at, know, okay, how did they write things? What do they need? And asking the questions, what do you want to see? How else can I help you? And in that time, fostering relationships, since I've been in this role, I've been here for three years.

really working on that, like, well, what else would you like to try? What topic do you teach that could use a little bit more enthusiasm? Or if I had something for that topic that you might try. And I'll be honest, the best thing that has come, I can send all these things out. Our administrators or media specialists, whoever gets my newsletter from the list, they're

that maybe isn't a teacher on my mailing list that also shares them. The best thing I ask this question, where did you learn about this experience? And now instead of getting, an administrator emailed it to me, this, that. And when it's not somebody on my mailing list, it's I heard from another teacher. So I'm at that point where the early adopters are, hey, yeah, I would like to, I want to try this. This teacher told me.

Allyson (33:24.322)
Yay!

Liz Huson (33:35.974)
You know, but it's taken some time to build that and for people to get to know who I am. And while I'm on zoom quite often and that's where a lot of teachers see me, I also go into I'll go out to districts. And if I'm helping somebody with a field trip or a speaker or just showing them this is how you would use the technology for this kind of a connection, quite often other teachers will pop in. you know, I introduced myself, share what they do. So really, it's it's that whole.

I know nobody on this podcast that's talking to me is surprised, but I love to talk to people and I love to get them to think about, you know, just, hey, reach out to me. So I think some of that too, I'm pretty accessible. Like, don't be embarrassed if you don't know what the technology is or you're not sure if you have what you need in the classroom. It's, come show you. It's, you know, it's all good.

Seth Fleischauer (34:30.465)
When teachers are sharing these experiences with each other, do you know what they're saying to each other? Like, is it just about like this content, and it happens to be distance learning, but it's cool, don't worry. Or is it like, I know all about distance learning and let me communicate to you the fantastic resources that are available. Like, is it more like kind of general advice that people are giving to each other or is it just kind of like experience by experience?

Liz Huson (34:57.106)
I think it varies based on experience. It's, hey, this provider was great. I did this last year. The kids loved it. Or, hey, this fits into curriculum. I signed up. You should sign up too, because I'll get one fourth grade teacher from a school. And then all of a sudden, the next day, I have a list of the other ones on my sign up sheet. OK. Right? Bring them all.

Allyson (35:21.26)
The best type of bookings. Bring the whole grade to me!

Liz Huson (35:26.45)
So there's that. I do have different districts where, again, it's the teacher like this is these other teachers said, you can find me something that the kids will love. What do you have? So it's a lot of that. One of the biggest things that I hear after is this was easier than I thought it would be. Because the technology isn't as, it's not as difficult.

you know, to click on a Zoom blank and to have things up and going or to test. A lot of times I think there's this perception that it's going to be harder than what it is. And once a teacher has done it and gone through that and they go, that was it? That's all I had to do with the technology? Yeah, that's it. And you have everything at your fingertips. Then they really start to run with it when they see that it's easy. They see that the kids are engaged and

quite often when they see that it's interactive. Sometimes some teachers said, like, I thought it might be like something I saw during the pandemic. And not that everything in the pandemic was terrible, but there were some things that maybe weren't the quality that the teachers were looking for. And when they see that distance learning and a lot of programs from providers are so interactive, it kind of changes their perception on what distance learning is.

Seth Fleischauer (36:52.653)
Yeah. And can you share with us some of those, we call them golden moments, right? These moments when you talked about the students totally loving what they were doing, but the moments when you're like, wow, I had a vision of what this technology could do, what it could bring, the value that it could add to a classroom. And I am absolutely living that right now. Can you tell us one of those stories?

Liz Huson (37:14.864)
Yeah, I actually have a couple that are the first ones that come to mind. And the first was my very first Mystery Skype. And I was putting you to this position. for those of you that don't know what Mystery Skype is, it's like a geography 20 questions sort of activity where you have students in two different locations. They don't know where they are. And they're playing 20 questions to guess where they are. So I was in a high school classroom. I have a teacher here that has a world cultures class. So she had wanted to try one.

Allyson (37:21.895)
Yes!

Liz Huson (37:44.274)
and they were connected and they go back and forth. They figure out the other classes in Poland and once they get there and our class was near Jamestown, New York, so the home of Lucille Ball. So they're talking about, you know, their schools like this is what my school day is like. This is what we're having for lunch. So, you know, the kids here, they're like, you're having pierogies for lunch. Well, yeah, they had blueberries in them. So all the kids here were blown away. There's fruit and pierogies. What? No idea. And then

Allyson (37:57.079)
Yes!

Liz Huson (38:13.944)
here they're like well sometimes we have wings they're like kfc no not so they're trying to explain buffalo right they're trying to explain buffalo wings to this class they're like we'll just send you a recipe so

Allyson (38:18.926)
The original wing!

Seth Fleischauer (38:26.677)
my gosh, is that where wings come from? They come from Buffalo?

Liz Huson (38:30.086)
They do? You didn't know that?

Allyson (38:30.552)
Yes? Isn't it the Anchorage? It's the Anchor Bar? Yeah, you gotta go! my goodness.

Liz Huson (38:34.16)
The anchor bar, yep.

Seth Fleischauer (38:36.027)
my gosh, putting all these things together. I can't believe I missed that. Okay. Okay, okay. Did the Polish kids know what buffalo wings were?

Liz Huson (38:39.228)
Come to Buffalo, we'll take you on a wing tour. Yeah, could be a podcast, just saying, an extra.

Liz Huson (38:49.65)
Well, they thought it was KFC. So we had to explain, no, no, it's, you know, really it's hot sauce and blue cheese. so, you know. But but having those conversations and then even they were talking about things their towns are known for. And and here the kids were talking about Lucille Ball and one girl's like, I don't know who that is like here. And they're like,

Seth Fleischauer (38:58.475)
It's NYFC.

Seth Fleischauer (39:15.147)
Only one girl?

Liz Huson (39:16.434)
Only one. they're like, we, because the home of Lucy, it's a big deal. The Comedy Center's here. You know, it's a big deal. So, you know, they're like, we're going to catch up to speed. But the golden aha moment for me, they get off this connection, they went back and forth. And the teacher's like, OK, what do you guys think? And this boy that was sitting in the back, kind of quiet throughout the whole thing, he's like, you know.

They were like us. And she spins around. She's like, what did you think they were going to be like? I don't know. I didn't think they were going to be like us. Like talk like us or act like us and like the same things. You know, they're talking about music and playing soccer after school. All of the same things. And she's laughing. She's like, did you see the teacher tell the kid in the back of the room to put their cell phone away? All of these things that were so similar.

our students' perception here in that classroom when we got off that call that, I don't know, I just didn't think they were going to be like us at all. That notion of, first of all, that power of connection and really seeing that even though miles and miles, countries, cultures, so many things separate us, there is so much that we all do have in common, that kind of human connection, that shared humanity and having empathy for that.

really can change perceptions. you know, we live in an era where, you know, maybe we're not seeing whole stories on things. Maybe we've never met, we live in a community where we've never met somebody who looks or thinks differently than us. And that, or from a different country, that, you know, in just these little conversations, just this little geography game, just this little

There's so much power in something that kind of feels like play, feels like, you know, we're just going to try this game, have a conversation. And, know, whether you stay and connect with that class for a larger, you know, project after, which is one way we use mystery Skype, or it's a one and done. And you, had that quick connection with each other. There's power in that.

Liz Huson (41:35.322)
Having the kids go well, I've met somebody from that place when they see it on the news or they see something else or you know I've met somebody there like us and it could change misperceptions. So that to me is is is rich and a huge golden moment and that was one of my very first. You know experiences in watching that reaction from kids and these weren't little little kids. These were high school kids. And.

I don't know, there's something about it that I think, I guess, I don't want to say it changes the classroom, but I think as simple as it is, and maybe as a teacher, I don't have time for that, it's worth taking time for.

Allyson (42:23.732)
my goodness, I had goosebumps the entire time. It's just such an example of breaking down the barriers. And what a wonderful opportunity for that to be one of the first in your role and just seeing that power right away, especially when not that it's in every classroom, but sometimes high school can be one of the classrooms that you have to build up the excitement a little bit to have kids.

Liz Huson (42:26.802)
It's just such a thing.

Seth Fleischauer (42:46.617)
Thank

Liz Huson (42:48.155)
Yeah.

Allyson (42:48.61)
really participate. So to hear that impact is just, you know, what a wonderful golden moment. And also blueberries and pierogies is so cool. Like, and now you know that you have to go to the Buffalo, you have to go to Buffalo, New York to get the Buffalo wing. I have shirts, Liz, I went and got, I went and I got shirts, like I took a picture with the lady.

Seth Fleischauer (42:56.183)
Yeah, had to build it up until blueberry, yeah, blueberry pierogies. That's all they needed. Yeah.

Liz Huson (43:01.19)
Mm-hmm.

Liz Huson (43:13.586)
shark girl? Yeah?

Allyson (43:16.437)
Yeah! It's like...

Seth Fleischauer (43:19.577)
All right, we're getting off talk a little bit. If we're talking about Shark Girl in Buffalo, I don't even know what that is, but I wanna bring us back a little bit to, know, so like what you were talking about remind me a lot of our episode with Cher Studios. You know, that cultural connection piece is so, so powerful as you say in today's world. And you're kind of hinting at the answer to the upcoming question that I'm gonna ask you here, which is,

Allyson (43:21.25)
Sorry, sorry.

Allyson (43:26.126)
Sorry.

Seth Fleischauer (43:47.561)
Our titular question is the question we ask everybody, but Liz Houston of Eerie 2 BoCi's, why distance learning?

Liz Huson (43:55.206)
Why not? So, so, okay. So in all honesty, think back to when you're a kid. All right. Now I'm going to let everybody know how old I am, but you know, if you are as old as I am, you're going to see this image in a second. Once upon a time watching Mr. Rogers neighborhood, I got to go see an orange crayon be made and that visit, you know, virtual visit, obviously it's their TV show.

Seth Fleischauer (44:16.513)
Ooooo

Liz Huson (44:23.622)
Fred Rogers took us to the crayon factory and you saw that orange crayon being made the whole process. And that memory, that episode, indelible. Distance learning can open up curiosity. I can take a kiddo someplace they've never seen. I can take them to someplace they may never have an opportunity to go to. And

open their imagination to think about what if or wow I saw this and gosh I can connect with people from anywhere in the world. I can talk with this leader. had Mary Beth Tinker talk with our kids so gosh they could read about student free speech or they could read about it in that little paragraph in their social studies book but then they can talk to her. She's right here distance learning. That connection, the engagement.

It pushes barriers. dissolves those classroom walls and really gets kids thinking for themselves. Well, what if they're the next ones that are going to push the technologies in our world, connect our global society and, you know, change the world for the generation after that. So why not get them thinking? Why not distance learning? There's nothing

quite like it. And I don't know if it gets one more kiddo excited about something like that, that, you know, that little orange crayon that was stuck in my head all the time as a little kid. And I still think of as an adult. I mean, why not prepare them for anything that's coming tomorrow that we don't know yet and prepare them for this interconnected world, give them the tools to try and see how they work.

and let them imagine where it's going to go next.

Seth Fleischauer (46:21.367)
Hmm. Beautifully said.

Allyson (46:22.558)
Yes, empower the children and yourselves.

Liz Huson (46:28.572)
I mean, I like to think that I know all things distance learning. I don't. I don't. But I know that it can be magical. I know how powerful it is. I know it can create empathy. can make a kiddo really say, gosh, that was the coolest thing ever. And I want to learn more about that topic because I saw it here. I know this is going back, but when we were at the Science Museum,

Seth Fleischauer (46:29.017)
Allyson (46:30.894)
You

Liz Huson (46:56.658)
They told us a story about a kiddo who saw something at distance learning and his family changed their whole vacation to come and visit the museum and see some things that have been curated, the rocks. I mean, I don't know. Somehow we all need to find the direction and things we love. And if distance learning gives kids more access to different opportunities and builds a cultural capital for them about all of those things around them, whether it be a museum, whether it be

an SCL program, whether it be a speaker, why not? That's why distance learning.

Seth Fleischauer (47:35.29)
Thank you so much for being here, Liz. Thank you for the work that you do for introducing this medium and all of this amazing content to the schools in your member districts. For people who are interested in distance learning, CILC, where Allison and Tammy work, is a fantastic place to go and check it out. You can find pretty much anything that you're looking for. They've got a database of an incredibly deep library of experiences.

Allyson (47:35.853)
Yay!

Seth Fleischauer (48:02.217)
that can match any of your curricular topics. My company, Beanie Global Learning, we have a lot of live virtual programs that talk about digital competencies, cultural competencies, especially through a global lens. There's a lot of really awesome stuff out there and we hope that if you are one of those teachers who is a bit skeptical that you take another look. You know, we do this podcast because we believe that these experiences are transformative.

And, and we want to educate, our, listeners as much as possible to the availability of them and how easy it is, as Liz was saying, how easy it is to bring it into your classroom. so thank you again, Liz. please check the show notes for any of the links that were mentioned here today. You can also go to cilc.org slash podcast, for any old episodes and more information about Liz. thank you as always to our editor, Lucas Salazar.

Allyson (48:56.738)
Yay, thanks.

Seth Fleischauer (48:56.845)
And if you'd like to support the podcast, yes, thanks, Lucas. If you'd like to support the podcast, please rate it, leave a review, follow us, tell a friend. And if you want to know the answer to the question, why distance learning, check out the people we highlight here on this podcast. These are the people who are leveraging this amazing technology to truly transform the learning experience. Why distance learning? Because it's accessible and it's awesome. See you next time.

Allyson (48:59.438)
You

Allyson (49:22.798)
you