Teaching Multilingual Learners: Why NJ Teacher of the Year Gillian Ober Says Classrooms Are Changing

WEBVTT

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Oh, yeah. Welcome. Welcome, everyone, to the Balancing Act podcast.

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I am Jamie Wonko here with Mr. Joseph Vitale. Hello, Mr. Vitale.

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Hello, Mrs. Wonko. How are you? I have a confession to make.

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I got another confession to make. Oh, my gosh.

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As my man Dave Grohl. Confessional shopaholic? As my man Dave Grohl would sing

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in one of my favorite songs, Best of You, shout out 90s. I covered someone's class today.

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You did? Yeah. And I was like, oh, someone asked for a charger.

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So I was like looking for a charger. And then I found the snacks.

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So I stole a Snickers bar out of your snack drawer. My chargers are zip-tied

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for all of you who would like to get your hot tip of the day.

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I didn't know. They're zip-tied.

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They should know that. They've been living in my classroom for six months.

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There is. But one particular student was like, oh, do you have an extra charger?

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And I was like, I don't. Once the two are full, we don't do that.

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Yeah, that's fine. Well, I didn't know that. Now I do. No, no,

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it's okay. They do, though.

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You know that's a that's a very good point you know the children know what

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to expect in there were you there sixth period

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i was there in period six shout out period six

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although i have to say six period after if they use their computers

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a lot during the day like that is the class that needs

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them more than others but yeah that is that is correct because i want

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to get to the end of my day that's uh that's that happens

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as well so i hope you're not mad at me for stealing snacks so i

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just want to just i just want to make sure friend i'm

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still in my desk or the snacks in the closet the snacks in your

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debt there's snacks in the closet too all right well someone might

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be covering the rest of the week oh i'm gonna

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be snack captain all right so hey you

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know what else our season three our season three is

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brought to you by our presenting sponsor teacher's insurance plan make sure

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you check out their website which is linked in our episode for more information

00:01:59.888 --> 00:02:03.848
and to get a quote teacher's insurance plan auto insurance that brings exclusive

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educator savings and exceptional customer care to New Jersey and Pennsylvania

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educational employees. Yeah, they do.

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Yeah, they do. And before we bring in our special guest, I just want to say to...

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To you, Jane, friend, I really appreciate you doing such nice things for me

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on my birthday. It was my 50th birthday a few weeks ago, and Jamie was nice

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enough to get some videos from coworkers and my kids and my wife.

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And it was a very nice, low-key day, which is exactly what we needed.

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And I really appreciated you going the extra mile and doing that stuff and putting

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it together because it was really fun.

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You're very, very, very welcome. I support the elderly in every way,

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in any way. She did give me a card.

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Which was my second favorite card because I got a card from my dog,

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Darius, who I love with life itself.

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And hers was happy 80th birthday.

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You jerk you. So I'm already putting plans in the motion for her birthday,

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which is many, many years from now, right?

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Yeah. A lot of months. Oh, I thought you meant like my this year birthday.

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Yeah. So why don't we, now that we're bantering here, I think we have our guest

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waiting in the wings. Let's bring her in and get to talking today. All right. Great.

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Hi, Jillian Ober, 2026 New Jersey Teacher of the Year.

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Welcome to the Bouncing Act Podcast. Thanks a lot for joining us today. Hello.

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Thank you for having me. It's my first official podcast, so I'm very excited.

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Oh, my goodness. We are honored to be your very first podcast,

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I'm sure, first of many on your year reign tour that you're taking as the New

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Jersey Teacher of the Year. Congratulations.

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Congratulations. Yes. I have two questions to start out with.

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Number one, I'd like to know, like, is there a runner up teacher of the year

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where if you can't perform your teacher of the year duties, they take over a la Miss America?

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You know, I never, I don't know. Or number two, or number two,

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did you compete against 2025 teacher of the year, Stephanie Lockenauer in some

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kind of American gladiator like competition to take over the title of

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of 2026 New Jersey Teacher of the Year. Yeah, they set up like an obstacle course

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in the parking lot of the DOE.

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There was a mud pit. We were, you know, fighting. Yeah, yep. Nice. It's New Jersey.

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It's New Jersey themed. You jump over a gabagool or something like that.

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Exactly. Yeah, a little pork roll situation at the end. Oh, nice.

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Oh, pork. All right. Is it pork roll? Is that what we're arguing? Are we?

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I'm team pork roll. You're team pork roll?

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I'm going to get a lot of heat for that one. I think so, right?

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For those of you not listening in New Jersey, it's always been the,

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is it Taylor Ham or is it pork roll?

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I always say Taylor Ham. I say Taylor Ham and I always think of,

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I had a friend in college who was from Hamilton Square and her dad grew up in Trenton.

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And he worked at the Taylor Ham factory.

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And I would spend some time with her family and he would talk about his work

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at the Taylor Ham factory and why it was quality, all the things.

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So in my mind, it's always Taylor Ham. But, I mean, you know,

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it's delicious whether you call it Taylor Ham or Pork Roll. So I'll have it either way.

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This is a, yeah, this is definitely a regional argument.

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Well, then I make the mistake of saying, well, I'm from Central Jersey.

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And then you get people that are like, Central Jersey, what are you,

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there's north and south. Well, listen, we are Central Jersey people.

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We are Central Jersey people.

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So there are some people that believe, like, when you go over the Driscoll Bridge

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on the parkway that you are in South Jersey.

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And I'm like, absolutely not. That is not a thing because you can't say some

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of those towns are South Jersey. There's no way.

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South Jersey to me is like Tom's Riverish and South. That's me.

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Because, I mean, that's just because of how we were, you know,

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traveling as kids and going down to LBI in the summertime and stuff like that.

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Exactly. Same. We're really excited to have you with us.

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And I definitely want to hear, like, what your journey was like.

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First of all, your background in teaching, of course, like, you know,

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what how many years you've been in the classroom and what subjects you teach and all that fun stuff.

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We'd love to hear about what makes Jillian Ober Jillian Ober in the classroom.

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Um, so I've been teaching in New Jersey public schools now for about,

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I think this is going to be my eighth year.

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Um, and I started off teaching Spanish my first year and it was great.

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That's what I did my student teaching in, but I just kind of knew,

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um, teaching ASL was kind of my calling.

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Um, and that's when I started working in Freehold Borough.

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So I've been there, um, ever since. And I was in fifth grade for six years.

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And then this year I actually got moved to our middle school.

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So I'm in seventh grade now doing ESL for, I have like my own ELA class and

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then I push in to math classes.

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But I guess kind of my journey to get here, I had no idea I wanted to be a teacher.

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I kind of, yeah, no clue. I went to Boston University, chose the most expensive

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school in the country that I'm still paying for and, you know,

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didn't know what I wanted to do.

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And kind of found it along the way. I kind of joke with my family and friends.

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It took me 26 countries and a trip around the world to figure out that teaching was for me.

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I moved abroad to Spain and I taught there for a bit.

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And then I wanted to kind of push myself because I'm bilingual in English and Spanish.

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So I didn't know if I was just having a really good time in Spain and enjoying

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living there and eating cheese and all the good food. And I wanted to kind of

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like put myself to the test.

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So I originally had a job in Beijing and when I was about to move there,

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the school went bankrupt.

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So I was kind of like, all right, what do I do now? And I applied for this fellowship

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through Princeton and Asia in Thailand.

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And I ended up getting it. So I taught in Thailand for a year.

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And that was when I realized, I call it now like my monsoon moment.

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I was in the middle of a monsoon.

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I was in my classroom that was kind of like half open air, half classroom.

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It's pouring. I'm soaked to the bone. There's like puddles in my classroom.

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And I'm standing there watching my students and kind of just thinking to myself like how am I not,

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absolutely miserable right now and just watching the kids and like having that

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moment of like this is why I'm not miserable right now like these kids are standing

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here working they're excited to be learning they're practicing their English

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they've come so far since I first met them,

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um so that was kind of how I figured out okay I want to teach and I came back

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right when I moved back and went to grad school, and the rest is kind of history.

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The monsoon moment. I like that one. Yeah, it's kind of, as I'm like,

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you know, when you tell the story, I'm like, yeah, it was my,

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that's what I knew, the monsoon. Yeah.

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And so after your experiences abroad, you came back to the United States and...

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Yeah. And like a month later, I applied to grad school at Monty University,

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got into the program and started.

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So I did a degree in K-12 Spanish and K-12 ESL because I just wasn't sure I

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wanted to leave my options open.

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I know those were two areas where there was a shortage. So I was trying to set

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myself up for a job, basically. Yeah, absolutely.

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Joe and I in our school district had taught in the ESL school and then just

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last year, is it at the beginning of this school year?

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You know, yes, it was.

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I think it was. It was last year. They took, they used to bus like all of the

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kids from our school district just to one building.

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So we were like the magnet school where all the middle school kids went to.

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And the state said, you know, you can't do that anymore.

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So they sent sort of the kids back to what would be considered their homeschools

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or the schools closer to their houses.

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And so we've kind of watched our district have to learn how to do that.

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Everybody had to learn how to be an ESL teacher.

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And it was certainly something that I wasn't familiar with until I moved to

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the school four years ago.

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And so it was definitely like, wow, what am I doing?

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It's the biggest undertaking for me post-COVID because of sheltered instruction

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and having kids that are – not only are many of the students in regular education

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classrooms, a lot of them are –.

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My goodness. ICR classrooms where there's an additional teacher in there.

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There are students that already have special needs.

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An ELL student has deficiencies in language. They could be deficient, school interrupted.

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They could have years that they're deficient in their native language and also

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be at varying levels in the ELL program, beginner, intermediate and advanced,

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all in the same classroom.

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So when I tell you it's like plate spinning to try and figure out how I'm going

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to teach material, but also make sure it's supported and scaffolded enough to support an ELL student,

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that post-COVID to me is by far the most challenging situation.

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Like teaching experience that I've had, um, you know, since 2020.

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No, it definitely is challenging. And I like, not, not to call out a word that

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you use, but I think it's kind of like a way that we have to shift our mindset a little bit is.

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Instead of thinking, oh, they're deficient in this or they're deficient in that

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it's, we have to find these kids are bringing so much to our classroom.

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The language piece, you know, is going to take time and it's going to come.

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But so many of these students have like these lived experiences

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and like you know life skills that

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we can tap into um but it's

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it's not maybe the traditional way that we've learned

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to teach so it's also true that like how we're all being trained to be teachers

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there has to be a shift because now we're i i just actually i presented with

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stephanie locken hour the other night we um i was running an event at mom at

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the university and you know the name of it was when we all become multilingual

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educators because it's really something,

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you know, it's not just going to be the ESL teacher down the hall anymore.

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Like we have these kids in all of our classrooms and, and we all need to,

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like, you don't know what you don't know. Right.

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So if you're not trained in how to help them, it's going to be really challenging.

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It's going to be hard. And we're not.

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So we're using a term that I've used before.

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And one of our previous guests recently used it, building the plane as we're

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flying it. We're just figuring it out as we go.

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Yeah. And it's a big undertaking.

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And a challenging one. Sorry, Jo. So, Jillian, so tell us, you...

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Started teaching and your road to becoming or being, you know,

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crowned as New Jersey Teacher of the Year started after you picked this chosen,

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like, this was your platform or this is just something that,

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you know, you really focused on because it meant so much and was so important to you?

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I think kind of as I've started like the journey of like having this title,

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I've kind of had to do some of the work to like hone in on, you know,

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because when you when you get crowned the state teacher of the year,

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everyone's kind of like, oh, what's your project? Like, what's your thing?

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And there's lots of things that I'm passionate about, but I kind of had to find

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start finding ways to like better articulate it.

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And I think through the work that I've done at my district, I've kind of settled

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on those two areas of like trying to help better prepare all teachers to work

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with multilingual learners.

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And then sort of the advocacy piece, some of the work that I've done with my

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students and their families facing like immigration crisis and ways that I've

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been able to help them navigate that was something, a role I never necessarily expected to step into.

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But because of like the relationships I build with my students and their families,

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it kind of just started happening.

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And I was sort of learning to fly the plane as we were already in the air or

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however that expression goes.

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Building the planes were flying. Yes, thank you. Thank you.

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You said something when you were just talking there about like, what's your project?

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We'd love to know like, what exactly does the New Jersey Teacher of the Year do?

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Like, what is your, like, I know that you're not in the classroom right now.

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You're on sabbatical, right?

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And you're down at the DOE. So we'd love to hear like what that actually looks

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like and what your day-to-day is and what you're working on.

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Yeah, so I didn't really know what to expect because I think every state teacher

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of the year kind of has a different, I feel like it's kind of like a pick your own adventure.

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Because you do, you work at the DOE, but some people find like,

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you know, they're going and visiting a ton of classrooms or some people find,

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you know, they're getting asked to speak at a ton of conferences.

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And what's kind of beautiful about it is like the flexibility,

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like you are working in the Department of Ed, but if you have other things going

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on, it's not like I have to be there every single day. And that was something

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that I kind of understood more as it got closer to me actually starting the sabbatical.

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So I go into the office about three days a week.

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And, you know, at first I kind of got there and I'm a bit of like a perfectionist

00:15:36.325 --> 00:15:38.005
and I need to be doing things at all times.

00:15:38.165 --> 00:15:42.325
So I was kind of like, okay, what do I do? Like, how do I get started?

00:15:42.845 --> 00:15:47.585
Um, so we kind of like started off with, um, Nancy Bassant is,

00:15:47.645 --> 00:15:50.665
is the coordinator for like all the honored educators and she,

00:15:50.865 --> 00:15:53.805
um, sort of runs the program for the state teacher of the year.

00:15:54.065 --> 00:15:58.325
Uh, so I got set up with all these meetings to sort of meet different directors

00:15:58.325 --> 00:15:59.865
in different fields, um,

00:16:00.680 --> 00:16:03.900
kind of pertaining to areas that I might have an interest.

00:16:04.100 --> 00:16:08.640
Like, so that advocacy work, you know, helping educate more about multilingual learners.

00:16:08.820 --> 00:16:12.820
Also, you know, being an honor educator myself, kind of exploring some of what

00:16:12.820 --> 00:16:15.920
Nancy and the team that I kind of fall under were doing.

00:16:17.640 --> 00:16:20.340
So I'm laughing at myself now because in the beginning I was like,

00:16:20.400 --> 00:16:23.380
I have to make sure I'm like doing enough. Like, you know, I'm here.

00:16:23.480 --> 00:16:25.520
I got to make the most of this time.

00:16:25.920 --> 00:16:31.520
And now I find myself, I'm like, okay, I have, I have lots of projects now. I've got my hands full.

00:16:31.820 --> 00:16:36.920
So I'm doing, um, a little bit of work, um, on one of the, they're,

00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:41.820
they're doing like an SGO pilot, um, to sort of explore those regulations are

00:16:41.820 --> 00:16:43.420
going to be modified this year.

00:16:43.660 --> 00:16:47.600
Um, so looking at what that's going to look like going forward,

00:16:47.600 --> 00:16:53.100
um, I've been kind of working on and trying to get some more guidance in terms

00:16:53.100 --> 00:16:57.940
of things that are going on with immigration in New Jersey and for school districts.

00:16:58.220 --> 00:17:04.980
That one's kind of my big passion project, but it's sort of a bigger picture, long-term initiative.

00:17:06.760 --> 00:17:10.600
And doing some things with the team there working on AI.

00:17:12.040 --> 00:17:15.340
I'm kind of, I've, I've got my, my hands full in a really great way.

00:17:15.360 --> 00:17:18.420
And it's kind of been, I didn't know what I was going to, how I was going to

00:17:18.420 --> 00:17:21.920
feel about working at the department of ed because I do love the classroom so much.

00:17:22.920 --> 00:17:25.380
But I've been really like pleasantly surprised. It's sort of,

00:17:25.560 --> 00:17:30.720
I, when people ask, it's like, it's igniting a different part of my brain, if that makes sense.

00:17:32.580 --> 00:17:35.660
So it's been really great, but yeah. So I'm basically, I'm at the DOE three

00:17:35.660 --> 00:17:38.960
days a week and I do work from home a bit on like Thursdays and Fridays,

00:17:39.140 --> 00:17:42.220
but then those are usually days that I'm out in the field. Maybe I'm visiting

00:17:42.220 --> 00:17:46.740
a classroom, I'm presenting at a conference or like giving a speech somewhere.

00:17:47.300 --> 00:17:52.400
So the flexibility is really nice. It lets you kind of get your hands on things

00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:53.980
that you normally wouldn't have enough time for.

00:17:54.340 --> 00:17:57.440
That's awesome. And, you know, my main question about that is like,

00:17:57.480 --> 00:18:02.180
what is it like to be able to go to the bathroom whenever you just need to go

00:18:02.180 --> 00:18:04.320
to the bathroom? Like that's. It's something.

00:18:04.980 --> 00:18:08.960
I'm like my desk. It's hilarious. Like you walk into my cubicle and I have like

00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:12.460
water, electrolytes, coffee, a Diet Coke.

00:18:12.600 --> 00:18:16.840
Cause I'm like, I can drink whatever I want. I can go to the bathroom whenever I want.

00:18:17.160 --> 00:18:22.260
There's no limit. There's no limitation for you that way. I just have like a hoard of beverages.

00:18:22.940 --> 00:18:29.200
Today I went, I had a duty day, but I also, I covered Jamie's class today.

00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:33.360
And I, you know, it was a day we go six periods in a row.

00:18:33.520 --> 00:18:36.760
So I had to do my usual text to Brittany DiMeglio.

00:18:36.900 --> 00:18:41.120
Hi, shout out, Brittany, because I know she listens, because our usual is like

00:18:41.120 --> 00:18:44.100
when we're covering six periods in a row, we like, you know,

00:18:44.180 --> 00:18:48.140
send out the bat signal like, hey, I need you to come during this period at

00:18:48.140 --> 00:18:50.580
some point so I could just use the bathroom.

00:18:51.240 --> 00:18:54.640
Please. Because there's zero time. It's either I use the bathroom,

00:18:54.760 --> 00:18:57.740
I eat lunch, and I'm not skipping a meal because a cranky Mr.

00:18:57.860 --> 00:18:59.240
Vitale is an angry Mr. Vitale.

00:19:00.100 --> 00:19:03.820
Nobody likes that. No, nobody likes that. All the more reason why I steal snacks

00:19:03.820 --> 00:19:06.500
out of Miss Wonko's desk when I'm covering in her room.

00:19:07.380 --> 00:19:11.340
I found the good snacks. What are you going to do? Dad. How do you...

00:19:12.041 --> 00:19:16.761
How did you did things change for you in terms of your like,

00:19:16.901 --> 00:19:21.001
obviously, because our our days are not in an office setting.

00:19:21.301 --> 00:19:26.101
So how did how did that change? And also, like, did your commute change?

00:19:26.641 --> 00:19:29.701
Did your like routine? Right. Because it's sort of this upheaval.

00:19:30.001 --> 00:19:33.461
And then what in September you go back to your classroom.

00:19:33.921 --> 00:19:35.921
Is that how that works? Yeah.

00:19:36.941 --> 00:19:39.961
So, yeah, like my drive is different. I live in Asbury Park,

00:19:40.161 --> 00:19:42.281
so I'm now driving across the state.

00:19:42.521 --> 00:19:47.141
It's not a bad drive. And I do have the Teacher of the Year mobile, as I like to call it.

00:19:47.301 --> 00:19:50.661
So that sweetens the deal a little bit.

00:19:50.821 --> 00:19:53.561
Does somebody else drive you? It's like the Pope mobile and you've got a little

00:19:53.561 --> 00:19:55.281
thing. Yes, he's got his top hat on.

00:19:56.661 --> 00:19:58.001
That's adorable. I love it.

00:20:00.021 --> 00:20:04.181
So yeah, the commute's a little different, but it's not bad.

00:20:04.181 --> 00:20:06.361
I'm listening to a lot of audiobooks on my way.

00:20:08.041 --> 00:20:11.161
I mean, of course, this podcast would be on your... That's a great podcast to

00:20:11.161 --> 00:20:14.261
listen to. Yes, exactly. So...

00:20:16.083 --> 00:20:21.183
What do you think in regards to like, you know, as we've met with a bunch of

00:20:21.183 --> 00:20:23.723
different novice teachers and you also teach at the university level,

00:20:23.903 --> 00:20:24.723
if I'm not mistaken, correct?

00:20:25.183 --> 00:20:29.743
Yeah, at Monmouth and Georgian Court. Is that for like specifically for the

00:20:29.743 --> 00:20:35.103
ELL program or is this like novice teacher training kind of programs that you're involved in? Yeah.

00:20:35.483 --> 00:20:40.643
So the classes that I'm typically teaching, so at Monmouth University,

00:20:40.643 --> 00:20:43.683
in the past I've taught for grad students.

00:20:43.683 --> 00:20:48.103
But the most recent classes I've taught are for undergrads, and it's sort of

00:20:48.103 --> 00:20:51.343
their first coursework exposing them to multilingual learners.

00:20:51.643 --> 00:20:55.423
So all students take this class, regardless of whether they're going to get

00:20:55.423 --> 00:20:56.903
the ESL certification or not.

00:20:57.143 --> 00:21:00.163
I love that. Which I think is a really good thing. Yeah, a lot of programs now

00:21:00.163 --> 00:21:01.783
are doing that. Yeah, that's really good.

00:21:02.203 --> 00:21:06.583
Yeah. Because it's like we are all going to be multilingual educators in some capacity.

00:21:06.743 --> 00:21:10.603
You're going to have a student in your classroom that English is not their first language. Yeah.

00:21:11.183 --> 00:21:14.903
That's going to become the norm. it kind of is the norm now right like we all

00:21:14.903 --> 00:21:17.423
we've all experienced it um.

00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:24.539
But yeah, so at Monmouth, I teach undergrads, a class that's kind of their first exposure to it.

00:21:24.699 --> 00:21:31.399
And then at Georgian Court, typically more of my class is getting the ESL certification.

00:21:31.399 --> 00:21:36.179
But some people might be like in their literacy program, but those are graduate

00:21:36.179 --> 00:21:40.019
students. So it's kind of nice that the two universities, I get sort of the

00:21:40.019 --> 00:21:41.779
two different age groups, Georgian Court.

00:21:42.039 --> 00:21:44.919
A lot of times I have teachers that are already in the field and they're going

00:21:44.919 --> 00:21:46.279
back for this certification.

00:21:48.239 --> 00:21:51.359
Whereas Monmouth, I get, you know, they're babies in my eyes,

00:21:51.459 --> 00:21:54.819
like 19 year olds and they're fresh Bambi eyes to the world.

00:21:56.279 --> 00:22:01.759
I love that. That's really interesting about the fact that they're taking a

00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:09.239
class to get themselves some exposure to being a multilingual educator.

00:22:09.599 --> 00:22:13.079
Because, again, we're not getting that training.

00:22:13.219 --> 00:22:17.759
And I don't know if it's just not coming down the pike yet or if there's a plan

00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:21.319
of how we're going to make sure that we can service these children that are

00:22:21.319 --> 00:22:23.999
in our classes better. Because I want to get better at it.

00:22:24.519 --> 00:22:28.559
Have you ever thought, I work in education. why is finding a job so weirdly hard?

00:22:28.699 --> 00:22:32.399
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00:22:32.399 --> 00:22:34.199
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00:22:34.399 --> 00:22:37.519
That's why njschooljobs.com actually makes sense.

00:22:37.899 --> 00:22:41.239
It's a job board built specifically for New Jersey schools, public,

00:22:41.499 --> 00:22:43.199
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00:22:59.159 --> 00:23:00.759
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00:23:00.999 --> 00:23:05.199
They also host virtual job fairs, where you can connect with multiple districts

00:23:05.199 --> 00:23:07.399
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00:23:07.619 --> 00:23:11.719
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00:23:16.830 --> 00:23:18.170
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00:23:18.170 --> 00:23:21.670
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00:23:58.709 --> 00:24:01.869
What do you think or where I should start if I have to go it on my own?

00:24:03.489 --> 00:24:08.929
Well, what I kind of am hoping that more districts will start to do is turn

00:24:08.929 --> 00:24:11.089
to the ESL teachers you already have.

00:24:12.049 --> 00:24:17.249
Give them PD opportunities or maybe pay those teachers to run workshops.

00:24:17.429 --> 00:24:18.989
Use the experts that are in your building.

00:24:19.209 --> 00:24:23.469
And obviously, you can turn, I think, the people around you because those teachers

00:24:23.469 --> 00:24:26.749
are also going to know your students. Turn to them and ask for advice.

00:24:27.749 --> 00:24:30.989
Um but beyond that i think really trying to

00:24:30.989 --> 00:24:34.209
um familiarize yourself with the wita

00:24:34.209 --> 00:24:37.649
standards they can be really helpful so in 2020 wita are

00:24:37.649 --> 00:24:42.269
the standards that we use in new jersey um we're one of like 48 states um that

00:24:42.269 --> 00:24:47.509
use these standards and in 2020 they kind of redid them to align with the different

00:24:47.509 --> 00:24:52.989
content areas so there's now standards for every grade level for um for language

00:24:52.989 --> 00:24:55.649
arts for math, science, and social studies.

00:24:56.249 --> 00:25:00.489
And I think for teachers that are kind of at a loss of like,

00:25:00.609 --> 00:25:02.949
what do I need to focus on? Like, how do I help these students?

00:25:04.389 --> 00:25:08.249
That can be a really good starting point, especially like if you have your students' access score.

00:25:08.389 --> 00:25:11.729
So if you know what level they're at currently, some of that WIDA information

00:25:11.729 --> 00:25:16.229
can kind of help you paint a better picture of where your student's at now and

00:25:16.229 --> 00:25:17.709
where you want to be reaching towards.

00:25:17.929 --> 00:25:19.649
And that I think helps a lot to

00:25:19.649 --> 00:25:23.489
kind of guide, like, okay, how can I differentiate this quiz I'm making?

00:25:24.069 --> 00:25:27.809
What do I need to include in this slideshow so they can participate in the lesson?

00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:33.560
And we'd also, too, has a lot of really great, like, free resources online as well. Okay.

00:25:34.560 --> 00:25:38.380
Yeah. And thankfully, go ahead. I was able to take an online course through

00:25:38.380 --> 00:25:41.920
Stockton University. And I thought that that was extremely helpful.

00:25:42.780 --> 00:25:49.580
And, of course, just like you said, we have some excellent ELL. I know. There's so many.

00:25:49.740 --> 00:25:52.500
It's like ELL, ML, ESL.

00:25:53.700 --> 00:26:02.140
I know. I took the course. And I, for a while, I was saying our MLs and people were like, huh?

00:26:02.440 --> 00:26:06.200
So I, you know, kind of went back to like the ESL because that seemed to be

00:26:06.200 --> 00:26:09.880
like what everybody kind of understood as, you know, the broad.

00:26:09.980 --> 00:26:12.900
Especially like that's what's still attached to the cert name.

00:26:13.700 --> 00:26:18.200
You're still getting certified in English as a second language. But like what's I think.

00:26:19.018 --> 00:26:23.718
Problematic with that is like so many of my students, English is not their second

00:26:23.718 --> 00:26:25.158
language. It's their third or fourth.

00:26:26.118 --> 00:26:29.418
You know, we have a lot of students in my school who grew up speaking an indigenous

00:26:29.418 --> 00:26:33.038
language and then Spanish was actually their second language,

00:26:33.038 --> 00:26:36.698
but they might not have ever learned to read and write it in school.

00:26:37.138 --> 00:26:42.438
So they have this like complex linguistic background that sometimes I think

00:26:42.438 --> 00:26:46.518
just saying English is their second language, like negates all of these other

00:26:46.518 --> 00:26:47.798
funds of knowledge that they have.

00:26:48.318 --> 00:26:52.118
Because it's pretty incredible. I had a student, he was my student this year

00:26:52.118 --> 00:26:55.058
before sabbatical, but I also had him in fifth grade.

00:26:56.238 --> 00:26:59.858
And he grew up until he came to the United States speaking mihe,

00:27:00.078 --> 00:27:02.738
which I think is the second or third rarest language in the world.

00:27:02.898 --> 00:27:04.178
It's from like the mountains of Guatemala.

00:27:04.698 --> 00:27:07.858
Wow. So we were trying, and he didn't know the name of it. So we were trying

00:27:07.858 --> 00:27:11.138
to figure out the name of this language and putting the pieces together.

00:27:11.298 --> 00:27:15.298
Like, okay, he understands Spanish and he can speak it but sometimes i feel

00:27:15.298 --> 00:27:19.518
like i lose him in a lesson if i'm using spanish and we had to put together

00:27:19.518 --> 00:27:24.198
this picture of like okay mije was his first language spanish was his second

00:27:24.198 --> 00:27:26.158
he never fully learned how to

00:27:26.158 --> 00:27:29.758
read and write it and now he's also learning english at the same time oh.

00:27:30.458 --> 00:27:34.178
Yeah but when you think about that then when you have that student in front

00:27:34.178 --> 00:27:37.558
of you like i know what you're saying before joe like as a teacher sometimes we see that we're like,

00:27:38.220 --> 00:27:41.860
How am I going to help this kid? You kind of had that moment of panic.

00:27:42.260 --> 00:27:47.320
And it's easy to fall into the deficit lens. That's human nature,

00:27:47.360 --> 00:27:50.060
I think, sometimes, is to think like this, okay, this is going to be a bird on me.

00:27:50.540 --> 00:27:54.140
And you see the negative. But if you think about what that kid is doing on a

00:27:54.140 --> 00:27:59.600
daily basis in school, there's an indigenous language that's so different than

00:27:59.600 --> 00:28:01.080
the language he's hearing in class.

00:28:01.080 --> 00:28:03.880
He's interacting with peers in two languages that

00:28:03.880 --> 00:28:06.620
like his brain is like exploding on

00:28:06.620 --> 00:28:09.440
a daily basis it's incredible and if we can find ways

00:28:09.440 --> 00:28:12.360
to tap into that our multilingual learners are sometimes the

00:28:12.360 --> 00:28:16.300
smartest kids in our room but we just have to find a way to access their their

00:28:16.300 --> 00:28:21.000
content knowledge and pull it out yeah we work um we work with someone and i

00:28:21.000 --> 00:28:24.580
i really like her and she and i become very good friends and english is not

00:28:24.580 --> 00:28:31.000
her um first language and what is was such an eye opening thing for me.

00:28:31.220 --> 00:28:34.040
And I realize as, you know, and I always say to the kids, like,

00:28:34.520 --> 00:28:37.560
New Jersey, and I have an accent, and I know that I have an accent,

00:28:37.560 --> 00:28:40.340
and I appreciate that. So I'm trying as hard as I can, you know,

00:28:40.420 --> 00:28:43.040
to get everybody's pronunciations and everything correct all the time.

00:28:43.440 --> 00:28:48.660
But she had said something to us, to the colleagues in the teacher's room,

00:28:49.180 --> 00:28:53.540
which was like, when you're all talking at the same time.

00:28:54.559 --> 00:29:00.439
You pretty much all sound the same to me, and I'm not always sure what you're even saying.

00:29:00.679 --> 00:29:03.739
And she's fluent in English. You know, she teaches, she teaches science,

00:29:03.799 --> 00:29:06.159
she's really, you know, and I thought, my goodness,

00:29:06.359 --> 00:29:13.919
if you are saying that, it really changed the way that I looked at my MLL students

00:29:13.919 --> 00:29:21.379
in my classroom and the pacing in which even I was going to or the volume of

00:29:21.379 --> 00:29:25.259
what was happening around them because they had to really isolate sometimes,

00:29:25.699 --> 00:29:29.399
you know, and be able to kind of hone in on what it was that,

00:29:29.539 --> 00:29:32.039
you know, they were trying to understand or what we were saying.

00:29:32.539 --> 00:29:35.459
And it was just like, wow, Stella, thank you for saying, you know,

00:29:35.519 --> 00:29:39.379
it was just one of those like, huh, yeah, because you don't even assume that

00:29:39.379 --> 00:29:43.739
like the speed in which you're going is going to complicate things or as many

00:29:43.739 --> 00:29:46.479
people talking at the same time as hard. Yeah.

00:29:46.759 --> 00:29:50.139
Yeah. Yeah. Like I consider myself unfluent in Spanish, but still sometimes

00:29:50.139 --> 00:29:53.119
like I remember when I I think as you're learning a language,

00:29:53.359 --> 00:29:56.319
you have these moments where you're like, OK, I thought I was fluent then,

00:29:56.479 --> 00:29:57.579
but like now I'm really fluent.

00:29:57.819 --> 00:30:00.559
And then you have another experience and you're like, it's, you know,

00:30:00.699 --> 00:30:03.699
when it's not your native language, you're always going to be a learner.

00:30:04.039 --> 00:30:07.439
So it's almost like milestones instead of like, I'm fully fluent now.

00:30:07.619 --> 00:30:13.679
But the first time I went out to a bar with my colleagues in Spain and yeah,

00:30:13.679 --> 00:30:17.299
it's like when multiple people are talking at once, your brain like you're you're

00:30:17.299 --> 00:30:20.199
doing all this in your prefrontal cortex and you're trying to track all these

00:30:20.199 --> 00:30:21.759
different conversations at the same time.

00:30:22.379 --> 00:30:28.639
And I would just do the nod and smile like, oh, see, because I was not following.

00:30:28.899 --> 00:30:31.339
If I spoke one-on-one to somebody, I was great.

00:30:31.699 --> 00:30:34.519
But the second I was trying to clock in and follow different things,

00:30:34.679 --> 00:30:38.619
it's a lot. So when you think about those kids doing that and.

00:30:39.409 --> 00:30:42.189
Especially like as we get into middle school grades and high school grades

00:30:42.189 --> 00:30:44.969
where you're changing classes you have a different teacher you have a different

00:30:44.969 --> 00:30:47.769
way that they speak way that they run things like

00:30:47.769 --> 00:30:51.229
it's really amazing what multilingual

00:30:51.229 --> 00:30:55.129
learners can handle in a day like I feel like I'd go home and take a three-hour

00:30:55.129 --> 00:31:05.049
nap yeah so we when we spoke with uh miss locken hour uh she kind of explained

00:31:05.049 --> 00:31:08.669
to us and I just thought it was so cool so I'd love to if you would share with us.

00:31:08.809 --> 00:31:15.069
She had explained when she found out that she was given teacher of the year.

00:31:15.389 --> 00:31:20.469
Would you be able to share with us like how you found out and what that looked like for you?

00:31:21.089 --> 00:31:26.969
Yeah. So my principal did a pretty good job of tricking me because so there's

00:31:26.969 --> 00:31:30.189
this like, I knew I was a finalist in the summer.

00:31:30.809 --> 00:31:35.689
And then we actually all,

00:31:35.869 --> 00:31:38.589
so all the finalists got emails saying that we didn't get it

00:31:38.589 --> 00:31:42.349
so they're kind of trying to trick you so there is the element of surprise okay

00:31:42.349 --> 00:31:45.809
um but then like we kind

00:31:45.809 --> 00:31:48.629
of knew that and didn't and then we're like okay but like who actually won we

00:31:48.629 --> 00:31:52.529
don't know um so my principal

00:31:52.529 --> 00:31:58.589
had told me that um the county commissioner was coming to do like an interview

00:31:58.589 --> 00:32:03.729
um on on the friday that they were actually coming to surprise me because he

00:32:03.729 --> 00:32:08.049
wanted me to like make sure I put on something nice and did my hair that day

00:32:08.049 --> 00:32:09.589
so I was like thank you Mr.

00:32:09.709 --> 00:32:15.929
Brofack shout out um so then I but you know the day's going on and like nobody

00:32:15.929 --> 00:32:18.309
I'm like okay I don't know when the interview's happening I'm going through

00:32:18.309 --> 00:32:19.689
my normal day whatever I'm teaching.

00:32:20.675 --> 00:32:24.035
And I'm in the middle of a lesson and my kids were like being like kind of rowdy.

00:32:24.135 --> 00:32:25.935
I forget what we were doing, some sort of like sort.

00:32:26.115 --> 00:32:28.995
So they were walking around, they were talking, all good stuff.

00:32:29.135 --> 00:32:32.535
But there's like a knock at the door and my superintendent walks in and she's

00:32:32.535 --> 00:32:36.155
like, I, you know, I got called down, like someone's complaining.

00:32:36.295 --> 00:32:37.655
It's like really loud in here.

00:32:37.955 --> 00:32:41.295
Like, and then I kind of like had that moment where I'm like,

00:32:41.755 --> 00:32:43.995
then I don't remember what she said because I saw behind her.

00:32:43.995 --> 00:32:46.755
I see like the commissioner of

00:32:46.755 --> 00:32:49.855
education i see all these people i don't necessarily recognize

00:32:49.855 --> 00:32:52.635
behind her and i was like and i looked around and

00:32:52.635 --> 00:32:55.435
my students were like what's happening because they also this is

00:32:55.435 --> 00:32:58.695
my newcomer group so these people walk in and

00:32:58.695 --> 00:33:01.455
they're explaining what's happening and my students are kind of looking at each other

00:33:01.455 --> 00:33:04.315
like miss over like que esta pasando like what's

00:33:04.315 --> 00:33:07.415
happening and i had to after they left i had to like debrief and

00:33:07.415 --> 00:33:10.095
explain um but it was

00:33:10.095 --> 00:33:14.895
really great because um they you know got to kind of come in seeing me like

00:33:14.895 --> 00:33:19.995
in action with the kids um and you know they like brought me flowers it was

00:33:19.995 --> 00:33:24.335
it was really sweet but then i had to keep it a secret for a few weeks and those

00:33:24.335 --> 00:33:27.555
were the longest like three weeks of my life oh goodness,

00:33:28.455 --> 00:33:33.275
yeah because you you formally announce it like in a press release on october 8th,

00:33:33.895 --> 00:33:39.475
um typically that's when like you do it every year um so i had to keep it on

00:33:39.475 --> 00:33:43.195
you know obviously texted my family group chat immediately like you're all gonna

00:33:43.195 --> 00:33:44.275
believe what just happened,

00:33:45.335 --> 00:33:47.215
but then i was like you can't tell anyone.

00:33:49.015 --> 00:33:53.675
Well that's the the very cool payoff for that monsoon moment right i mean when

00:33:53.675 --> 00:33:57.155
you were thinking back i'm sure that might have popped into your head about

00:33:57.155 --> 00:33:59.655
like yeah maybe i am in the right place You know,

00:34:00.295 --> 00:34:03.915
um, that's really cool that you, uh, that you were able to experience that and

00:34:03.915 --> 00:34:07.355
that you're able to do all these amazing things and like be passionate about

00:34:07.355 --> 00:34:11.695
education and not only that, but teach the, the next generation of people that

00:34:11.695 --> 00:34:13.855
are going to replace Jamie and I, uh,

00:34:15.103 --> 00:34:18.163
You know, sooner rather than later. Sooner rather than later.

00:34:18.523 --> 00:34:20.663
You know, since someone said I'm 80.

00:34:21.723 --> 00:34:25.863
Yeah. For sure. Yeah. She gave me a card. Happy 80th birthday.

00:34:26.123 --> 00:34:29.383
I mentioned that on our opening. So, yeah, she's fun.

00:34:30.723 --> 00:34:35.443
I mean, you know, but it isn't. I mean, we both kind of have like 10 years or

00:34:35.443 --> 00:34:39.723
less in the classroom at this point, you know, until we can retire.

00:34:39.943 --> 00:34:42.583
So, you know, it's a coming.

00:34:42.923 --> 00:34:46.183
So, yes, we're going to need you. That's amazing. you know, to teach all of

00:34:46.183 --> 00:34:47.923
the, um, all those young ends.

00:34:48.043 --> 00:34:50.743
But I'm also not, that's why I keep asking the questions about like,

00:34:50.863 --> 00:34:52.043
you know, where to get started and where to go.

00:34:52.123 --> 00:34:54.843
Cause when you took the Stockton course that you were talking about before,

00:34:55.023 --> 00:35:01.203
like I was not at a point in my life where I could receive any additional information, right?

00:35:01.283 --> 00:35:05.163
You get to a point where you're like, I can't, I, and it's not that I didn't

00:35:05.163 --> 00:35:08.703
want to, it just was like, these are things that I need to accomplish right now.

00:35:08.883 --> 00:35:12.523
And what i was not focused on was

00:35:12.523 --> 00:35:17.083
was that and i'm like so i do i do wish they offered something like that again

00:35:17.083 --> 00:35:21.263
so i could you know really kind of dive into a little bit deeper and get a little

00:35:21.263 --> 00:35:25.543
bit more understanding because i feel that we're doing this you know let's train

00:35:25.543 --> 00:35:29.943
the trainer and we're getting like a watered down version of what we really

00:35:29.943 --> 00:35:32.443
should be learning about from the.

00:35:33.207 --> 00:35:37.687
People that come in to do the PD. Like, I'm not saying that they're not qualified, but like, no,

00:35:37.847 --> 00:35:42.547
yeah, but they're not, they're not as expert rich as someone who does this all

00:35:42.547 --> 00:35:48.047
the time that really could like give us the strategies we can put into practice

00:35:48.047 --> 00:35:49.247
that are going to help us,

00:35:49.407 --> 00:35:51.587
you know, service our students in the classroom.

00:35:52.027 --> 00:35:56.847
So I think another, another good group to definitely like reach out to or join

00:35:56.847 --> 00:36:02.307
is so NJT, so NJBE is a statewide like advocacy group.

00:36:03.247 --> 00:36:08.447
I'm part of that. They have a conference every year. Um, but they do a lot of

00:36:08.447 --> 00:36:15.967
amazing work, um, and bring in speakers, run webinars, um, and kind of at all

00:36:15.967 --> 00:36:17.707
levels of multilingualism.

00:36:17.887 --> 00:36:21.647
So, uh, ways to, uh, get parents involved.

00:36:21.827 --> 00:36:25.067
So they do even like parent academies where parents can come and sign on and

00:36:25.067 --> 00:36:29.487
learn, um, to better advocate for their children. They do workshops for teachers. Um,

00:36:30.317 --> 00:36:36.657
You know, they do things about the intersection of special education and multilingual education.

00:36:37.477 --> 00:36:40.377
They're really like they have their finger on the pulse of everything that's

00:36:40.377 --> 00:36:44.817
happening in the state and just have a really great people, a group of people

00:36:44.817 --> 00:36:48.577
running it that like have been doing the work for a long time. Yeah.

00:36:48.737 --> 00:36:52.517
Even like before, not that multilingual, like before multilingualism became

00:36:52.517 --> 00:36:55.617
this bigger topic that we're all talking about.

00:36:56.137 --> 00:36:59.997
They have a lot of people on the board and in the organization that have kind

00:36:59.997 --> 00:37:04.557
of been working with these students since since day one.

00:37:04.857 --> 00:37:10.217
So I also think I should turn to. And again, all three of us are from New Jersey, right?

00:37:10.297 --> 00:37:12.857
We live in a state that is incredibly diverse.

00:37:15.237 --> 00:37:20.657
And I think that there might be some other teachers in other areas of our state

00:37:20.657 --> 00:37:24.517
even that are like, ah, we got a small class of ELL students.

00:37:24.537 --> 00:37:27.137
What do I need to get myself started for this for?

00:37:27.237 --> 00:37:30.997
Why do I need to learn about this? And it's coming. Like, you know what I mean?

00:37:31.057 --> 00:37:34.937
Like, I just think that like there's there's constant changes and shifts in education.

00:37:34.937 --> 00:37:40.557
And I think this is one of them where we're going to continue to see more and

00:37:40.557 --> 00:37:47.077
more ELL students come into regular education classrooms that are going to need to be.

00:37:48.025 --> 00:37:51.965
Being instructed properly and us having the right uh you

00:37:51.965 --> 00:37:54.925
know knowledge base to be able to do that i think is going to be very valuable

00:37:54.925 --> 00:37:58.265
so even if you're listening and it's like well you know we don't have a large

00:37:58.265 --> 00:38:03.525
ell population in our district like you will eventually like i just feel that

00:38:03.525 --> 00:38:07.685
like if you're going to be in the in the career for you know however long i

00:38:07.685 --> 00:38:10.545
think it's going to be and it's increasing over time in our school now it has

00:38:10.545 --> 00:38:13.005
decreased because we're no longer the ELL magnet school,

00:38:13.305 --> 00:38:20.605
which because we had seen such an influx of ELL students that our building was busting at the seams.

00:38:21.085 --> 00:38:24.725
So they were like, yeah, we got to. You can't just have all of those kids in one school.

00:38:24.885 --> 00:38:29.325
No, it was, it was, it was, it was a lot, you know?

00:38:29.465 --> 00:38:33.185
And it's kind of like you're segregating kids based on their language needs.

00:38:33.285 --> 00:38:37.045
Like it's, it's just not, even though it'd be easier, it doesn't make it the

00:38:37.045 --> 00:38:38.585
right thing to do. Right. Correct.

00:38:38.945 --> 00:38:42.065
Yeah. And that's why, that's why the move was made. And I think that there's,

00:38:42.105 --> 00:38:48.225
there's a need for, for students to, for, for teachers, for prospective teachers

00:38:48.225 --> 00:38:51.585
to get that additional certification. I know that was kind of the theme of the,

00:38:51.705 --> 00:38:53.345
you touched on that event you did at Monmouth, right?

00:38:53.385 --> 00:38:56.165
Like that was kind of the theme of your event was like, Hey,

00:38:56.225 --> 00:39:01.365
why is it good to get this extra stamp, if you will, on your certification for when you graduate?

00:39:01.665 --> 00:39:05.465
And I think that's going to be for, uh, to be able to serving your students

00:39:05.465 --> 00:39:08.545
better to be able to find a job a lot easier.

00:39:08.925 --> 00:39:12.505
Right. Although there is a teacher shortage, like you're going to make yourself

00:39:12.505 --> 00:39:15.445
a much more desirable candidate to be in the classroom.

00:39:15.965 --> 00:39:18.345
Yeah. And there's kind of this myth that I, um.

00:39:19.713 --> 00:39:24.633
That if you get an ESL certification, you're never going to be any other kind of teacher again.

00:39:25.073 --> 00:39:30.813
But I would argue the opposite. And it's something we kind of talked about at this event.

00:39:32.473 --> 00:39:35.973
Multilingual learners are going to be a part of all of our classrooms now.

00:39:36.113 --> 00:39:41.233
So you're broadening your knowledge. And really, too, like when you actually

00:39:41.233 --> 00:39:46.233
break down the types of accommodations and scaffolding you're providing and

00:39:46.233 --> 00:39:49.013
things that you're doing in a classroom to help your multilingual learners,

00:39:49.333 --> 00:39:51.653
it's really just best practices.

00:39:52.113 --> 00:39:56.293
Like anything that you're doing to help these students is not going to hurt

00:39:56.293 --> 00:39:59.953
any of your other students in the classroom. You're adding in more visuals.

00:40:00.233 --> 00:40:04.533
You're providing different reading levels. Like, just because a student,

00:40:04.813 --> 00:40:07.973
maybe English is their first language doesn't mean maybe there's other struggling

00:40:07.973 --> 00:40:08.973
readers in your classroom.

00:40:09.333 --> 00:40:14.293
Like, it gives, you're just really doing things that are providing opportunities

00:40:14.293 --> 00:40:18.353
for everyone to learn in a different way, essentially.

00:40:18.613 --> 00:40:22.233
So I think that's kind of part of the shift that we have to make as well, is I think...

00:40:23.755 --> 00:40:28.855
If everyone can get this training, it's really just making us better teachers overall.

00:40:28.955 --> 00:40:32.635
It's not like this extra burden that we have to take on.

00:40:32.715 --> 00:40:36.975
I think it's just bettering our practice because we have to adapt with our students.

00:40:37.155 --> 00:40:40.355
This is how our students are changing. So that's what I mean.

00:40:40.815 --> 00:40:44.715
Yeah. I think sometimes the idea, especially for teachers and so many of them,

00:40:44.735 --> 00:40:48.155
you know, could fit into that like type A mold. It's like, well,

00:40:48.195 --> 00:40:52.355
I can't do it unless I do it 100% correctly and be trained.

00:40:52.675 --> 00:40:57.415
And it's, you know, and it's sort of like, it's okay if you start somewhere.

00:40:57.755 --> 00:40:58.655
Get out of my head, Jamie.

00:41:00.975 --> 00:41:04.995
You know, you don't have to do it perfectly. And I think too,

00:41:05.115 --> 00:41:08.255
like, those students aren't expecting perfection.

00:41:08.455 --> 00:41:12.395
I actually think when you do it imperfectly, you're building stronger relationships

00:41:12.395 --> 00:41:16.215
with those kids because it gives them, like, the number one thing that you need

00:41:16.215 --> 00:41:19.435
as a multi-inclusal learner is you can't be afraid to take, like,

00:41:19.635 --> 00:41:20.935
I call them language risks.

00:41:21.215 --> 00:41:24.195
Like, every day you're asking your students to be brave because,

00:41:24.355 --> 00:41:27.895
like, it's scary to show up and try to speak in front of your peers in another

00:41:27.895 --> 00:41:31.435
language and experiment with this new language that you're learning.

00:41:31.435 --> 00:41:35.935
So like if you can model to them like hey i'm this is new to me and i'm going

00:41:35.935 --> 00:41:39.475
to do my best like yeah those are the most effective teachers i see and they

00:41:39.475 --> 00:41:43.955
might not be doing like oh my god you made this the best differentiated math

00:41:43.955 --> 00:41:47.815
test i've ever seen in my life it's that they've shown that student that they're

00:41:47.815 --> 00:41:51.195
willing to try to make it work for them yeah and then when that,

00:41:51.887 --> 00:41:56.327
When relationship happens between that teacher and student, you have the buy-in.

00:41:56.687 --> 00:41:58.147
Those kids are going to show up and try.

00:41:58.747 --> 00:42:01.587
And then you're kind of meeting each other halfway. That kid's not shut off.

00:42:01.707 --> 00:42:03.647
Like, well, I don't know English. This is impossible.

00:42:04.267 --> 00:42:08.267
To me, doing this in the classroom is not in any way a burden.

00:42:08.307 --> 00:42:11.287
And if I gave that impression, I apologize. No, no, no.

00:42:11.707 --> 00:42:17.107
I'm speaking in general terms. Yeah. But to me, a burden is like- He's so touchy. Hey. Hey.

00:42:18.947 --> 00:42:21.767
Not doubting, Joe. i'm taking all your i'm taking

00:42:21.767 --> 00:42:24.787
all your snickers bars out of the drawer okay um you had

00:42:24.787 --> 00:42:28.347
almond joys in there too that's old people candy i love almond joys um

00:42:28.347 --> 00:42:31.387
i know good yes um but no

00:42:31.387 --> 00:42:35.027
like to me like the burden is like oh i gotta do this security training and

00:42:35.027 --> 00:42:39.087
like that that like that to me is like okay all right i'll get to it yeah it'll

00:42:39.087 --> 00:42:43.467
be done but let's have some pd that really is i'd rather yeah i'd rather focus

00:42:43.467 --> 00:42:48.287
on my my craft if you will and what i'm doing every day in the classroom to

00:42:48.287 --> 00:42:50.967
make sure that I'm meeting the needs of my students.

00:42:51.667 --> 00:42:59.307
And I have a great relationship with my co-teacher who does a very good job shout out Mr.

00:42:59.447 --> 00:43:04.827
Harry for the work that he does with not just our special education students

00:43:04.827 --> 00:43:07.947
but also the ELL students and the fact that he likes to take those additional

00:43:07.947 --> 00:43:10.547
risks and it kind of takes that on while I'm like,

00:43:11.427 --> 00:43:14.727
the understudy if you will. Like trying to figure it out as I go.

00:43:15.407 --> 00:43:18.727
Yeah. And that's Sometimes that's the best foot forward, you know?

00:43:18.867 --> 00:43:21.707
Yeah. Yeah. But I think you're touching... Oh, sorry, Jamie.

00:43:21.987 --> 00:43:27.667
No, it's okay. I had two students last year, two girls, and they were...

00:43:28.767 --> 00:43:36.947
One was like the... She was the newest, so very, very... Almost no English. And the other was...

00:43:37.772 --> 00:43:41.872
On her way of, like, where she was going to get out of the program, you know?

00:43:42.132 --> 00:43:46.892
Right. And so we would play, like, I mean, they would giggle every day and,

00:43:46.972 --> 00:43:48.632
like, okay, Mrs. Longo, it's time for your lesson.

00:43:48.892 --> 00:43:57.892
And they would talk in Spanish, and I would then have to tell them what I believe that they were saying.

00:43:58.392 --> 00:44:01.152
I love that. And we would have, like, an exchange of back and forth and back

00:44:01.152 --> 00:44:02.112
and forth, and it was great.

00:44:02.292 --> 00:44:05.932
And it became, like, you know, oh, who were we talking about or what were we

00:44:05.932 --> 00:44:11.012
saying or, you know? And it starts, I think, with like really simple things

00:44:11.012 --> 00:44:14.892
like that where you can, I'd say, oh, you're going too fast.

00:44:15.032 --> 00:44:19.252
But the idea of that, and then also, like you said, with presenting,

00:44:19.252 --> 00:44:23.812
I would say like you're going to present, but only to me.

00:44:24.212 --> 00:44:27.852
And so you and I are going to go in the back of the room and everyone else is

00:44:27.852 --> 00:44:29.212
busy and they're not looking at you.

00:44:29.312 --> 00:44:33.372
But I want you, you know, but that does, it takes some time and it takes some

00:44:33.372 --> 00:44:36.772
trust. And then I would try as best as I could to, you know,

00:44:37.272 --> 00:44:40.012
give them a little like, oh, I'm going to try in another language and let me,

00:44:40.132 --> 00:44:43.492
you know, and then they would giggle and say like, what, you don't think I sound great, you know?

00:44:44.112 --> 00:44:48.052
But I feel like any little things like that make such a big difference.

00:44:48.292 --> 00:44:53.172
And yeah, I even normally go one step further with things like that.

00:44:53.252 --> 00:44:56.952
Like, hey, you're going to present just to me, but you're going to choose a

00:44:56.952 --> 00:45:01.252
friend and then choose somebody that you don't know in class.

00:45:01.252 --> 00:45:03.992
I make them like oh god no i know you know that

00:45:03.992 --> 00:45:07.332
person don't don't that's like give me somebody that like you

00:45:07.332 --> 00:45:10.612
know somebody that you would want to get and i try to like give them some like

00:45:10.612 --> 00:45:13.432
options of like kids that i know would be willing and then kind of pull them

00:45:13.432 --> 00:45:16.372
aside and be like hey you're going to listen to a presentation just try to be

00:45:16.372 --> 00:45:20.712
a good listener i think that also gives them the opportunity to feel a little

00:45:20.712 --> 00:45:26.692
bit of nerves which is okay but also that good like growing pains yeah i i think so absolutely yeah

00:45:27.078 --> 00:45:31.218
So, yeah, Jillian, I mean, I really appreciate, I appreciate you,

00:45:31.378 --> 00:45:33.978
Jillian. And you too, Jamie. I appreciate you guys. Yeah.

00:45:34.758 --> 00:45:40.198
And we are really excited because now we know that we are going to hunt you

00:45:40.198 --> 00:45:44.858
down, hunt you down at the NJEA convention in the fall. Yeah.

00:45:44.998 --> 00:45:46.318
And you're going to be back.

00:45:46.658 --> 00:45:50.578
Yes. And you're going to give us a good interview. We know it. Yeah. I love it.

00:45:51.098 --> 00:45:54.538
So, and before we, before we close off, let's make sure that we.

00:45:54.598 --> 00:45:56.438
Before we close off, let me just say that season three.

00:45:57.078 --> 00:46:00.018
Is brought to you by our presenting sponsor, Teacher's Insurance Plan.

00:46:00.238 --> 00:46:02.778
Check out their website below for more information and to get a quote,

00:46:03.178 --> 00:46:06.658
Teacher's Insurance Plan, auto insurance that brings exclusive educator savings

00:46:06.658 --> 00:46:11.698
and exceptional customer care to New Jersey and Pennsylvania educational employees.

00:46:12.078 --> 00:46:16.838
Woo-hoo. Well, Jillian, thank you for the knowledge and congratulations again.

00:46:17.398 --> 00:46:22.498
Thank you, guys. This is so great. Yes. I ripped off the first podcast Band-Aid.

00:46:22.858 --> 00:46:25.638
Yeah, you did awesome. You were a natural, of course. And I,

00:46:25.678 --> 00:46:29.918
you know, I know your your reign is this year, but maybe you'll you'll win again

00:46:29.918 --> 00:46:33.918
next year in the American Gladiator like competition and maybe serve two years in a row.

00:46:35.538 --> 00:46:36.978
The parking lot smackdown.

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All right. We'll see everybody next time on the Bouncing Act.