Episode # 22

EduProtocols in Action with Adam Moler

October 20, 2022

About This Episode

Adam Moler started his career as a tennis instructor and the ideas of repetition and feedback through tennis instruction helped shape his educational philosophy. Now Adam is leading educators at his school – and helping educators around the country – use EduProtocols to help build student success.

[00:00:47] Kara: Joining me today is Adam Muller, who is a social studies teacher at New Richmond schools in Ohio, he does some teacher coaching as well. So, hey Adam. Thanks for chatting with me.

[00:01:00] Adam: Thanks for having me on.

[00:01:01] Kara: I know that you have not necessarily always been an educator. Yeah. So I just want you to kind of share your journey. What led you to decide to become a teacher? And what led you to where you currently are?

[00:01:14] Adam: I graduated from Northern Kentucky University and my parents didn’t go to college. Oh, okay. And, and so my, I remember my dad took me to orient, At Nku. And so I thought right then and there, cuz I was just confused and I’m not gonna lie, sometimes I tend to zone out and not pay attention.

I’m a true, I’m a true middle school teacher. Right. I, I turn into my kids. Yeah. And so I, I was at the orientation and I thought right then and there I had to declare a major Oh oh. And so they said education majors walk this way and I. All right, this is it. It’s my future. I’m going. And I, you know, and I got into it and I’m like, you know, I love teaching history.

We’ll go that route. I love social studies. I wanted to avoid math classes. And so I took one math class in four years. So that worked out. . And so then right outta college I started coaching tennis and then I realized, I’m like, you know, I’m not really happy doing this.

And so I got into education through being a paraprofessional in a social communication unit. At the time it was called an autism unit. I think they’ve changed the name since then. I switched to New Richmond Middle School, did special ed and got my master’s in special ed.

And, and then I’ve been teaching social studies for the last seven or eight years now. Doing just typical things within teaching school, like following a textbook or following some curriculum or just doing basic tennis drills.

Never sat well with me. Ah, like, I’m like, you know, I need to add me into this, to this. Yeah. I need to do my own thing. I, I wanna, I want to make this more engaging and, and do it my way. And so I’ve always had that mindset, whether coaching and teaching. And so that, that’s kind of what led me down this path of creating engaging lessons and getting my students, creating, collaborating, critically thinking and, and communicating what they’re learning

, there’s so many textbooks. There’s so many programs out there and programs don’t fix things. Right. Textbooks don’t fix things. Right. And quite honestly, it takes the art outta teaching.

I’ll use bits and pieces of my textbook. Yeah. I’m going to actually do my thing. I’m going to teach , the students in my room and, I’m gonna add this human element back into teaching , and put it in my classroom. I love this saying from my, one of my co-authors, John Carpo, who created Edge protocols. He’s like, Look, When we go and we coach baseball, like we coach, like I coach tennis, right? Mm-hmm. , they don’t hand me McGraw Hill tennis.

Right. And say, Here, coach, they, I, I do my own thing. Yeah. And I have fun with it because I know it and they trust me to do it, and I, I really enjoy it.

[00:04:05] Kara: I’m really curious to understand. Edge you protocols are, or how mm-hmm. , how is that kind of defined?

[00:04:14] Adam: An edge of protocol is a lesson framework that gets students creating critically thinking, communicating, and collaborating with one. Because quite honestly, more of that needs to be in schools. Mm-hmm. , I have my students discussing what they’re learning, sharing, like things they’re creating with each other.

One of my favorite protocols is a cyber sandwich where I give the students one source, one reading. Okay. And I tell ’em, 10 minutes, and I try to keep it to one page. I’m like, Read this article, read this textbook section, whatever, for 10 minutes and take some notes. And so I set my timer and then I let them discuss and fill out a ven diagram, discuss what they just read.

Okay. And discuss their notes that they just. and that takes five minutes, and then they write a 10 minute summary, and so within a 25 minute timeframe, I’m letting them read. I’m letting them decide what is important.

I’m letting them discuss. I’m asking questions. I clear up any misconceptions afterwards, uhhuh, and do my teaching. But I’m walking around, I’m doing my thing , I’m asking questions, I’m talking to my students. I’m getting to know ’em. Right. Yeah. And so, so basically like it, it’s just these lesson frameworks and.

I’m not gonna do the cyber sandwich once during the school year. I might do it once or twice a week, every single week. Because part of this too, with these protocols are reps and a bunch of repetition. Okay? I’ll use a tennis analogy. We just don’t practice four right?

Once a week and then call it a season. We’re playing points every single day. And, and that’s the idea is not only are we gonna do these, like do a cyber sandwich, we’re gonna do it once, twice a week and the students are gonna get really good at it by the end of the year.

[00:06:10] Kara: Okay.

What was appealing about this idea that you were like, I really wanna try this?

[00:06:15] Adam: What was appealing to me is the whole like, repetition piece of it and Okay, the coaching part of it and letting the students do the work.

The first time I tried something was a protocol called the Iron Chef so the Iron Chef is basically just a jigsaw lesson. That’s all it is. So it’s like four or five slides.

Okay. Four or five students partner up and they share the slide deck. Okay. And they each design a slide about a certain section or something. , and then you could have them present to each other. You could have them present their slides as a group. You could have them make a flip grid. But really, they all become experts on their specific section, on their specific slide within the slide deck.

Okay. Okay. And so I tried it out and it was a huge flop. I thought I was gonna have a mut knee on my hands, . And so, Oh no. Yeah, it was not good. It was not good. I went, I, I went too. And I, and I shared it on Instagram. Okay. And John Carpo, the author, like, commented on it and he goes, Yo, dude send me an email.

And he gave me his email address. And, and I’ll tell you this, John Carpo, when he says he is a helpful guy and you can email him anytime. He means it, he means he will help you. He will help you at any time. He’s, he’s one of the greatest dudes on the planet. And so, I emailed John and he goes, Dude you try to do way too much.

You need to start simple and teach the process, and so anyone really interested in your protocols, I will highly suggest to you start simple and teach your kids the process. Start with a low cognitive load. and then build from there. The reps, the repetition of these things are important. And so and so I, I’m like, You know what?

I’m gonna come back the next year and I’m gonna start with something simple and I’m gonna build and, and then it just snowballed from there I really got one protocol down. And then I added in a second one like a couple weeks later, and then I did repetition with that, and then I threw in a third one and a fourth one.

And now it’s to the point where I’m developing my own protocols. Now I am mixing and matching the protocols. My lesson planning is like, it’s like making a recipe or. Putting ingredients together and getting the most outta my students.

[00:08:45] Kara: How

cool. Mm-hmm. . After , implementing these protocols, how has it affected your classroom environment , what’s the student response like

[00:08:57] Adam: The last few years I’ve had the similar students over and over again cuz I taught seventh and eighth grade social studies.

Oh, gotcha. So the students that, the students that would come to me that I had the previous year, they knew my routine. I’m teaching ki like basically kids are learning differently through edge of protocols. Yeah. I am not the sole giver of information they are the ones creating. Themselves and asking questions.

And I’m asking questions and I, I’m, I’m getting to know them. So like last year was a piece of. Piece of cake. It was incredible a lot of the kids came in knowing my routines and what I was doing and they were able to help the ones that didn’t know and which is, we just awesome.

Yeah. We hit the ground running. Right. I didn’t have to do the low cognitive load stuff with a lot of protocols. We just hit it. But this year I’ve never had any of these eighth graders before they’re not used. . I feel like I’m starting to make some breakthroughs with them.

Mm-hmm. . And so my, in my most challenging class this particular student said, Mr. Muller, this is my favorite class. And I went, Why? Well, he goes, We actually do stuff in this class. We come in and we create stuff. We do stuff.

You show us stuff, you talk to us, you, you ask us how we are doing before we even begin anything. It’s just a different vibe in here. Aw, that

[00:10:32] Kara: makes me wanna

[00:10:32] Adam: cry . Well, that, that’s the power though. That’s the power of making that shift using edge of protocols it has honestly done wonders for my class. Now, you know, Is every kid supportive? No, but there are a lot of kids, tons of my students come in and we’re getting it done and we’re learning.

If anyone’s interested in doing it, I can give a few suggestions on how to start and, and to start with. Yeah, that would be great. And so first off, I would say, you know, one by the book But you know, as John Cryo would say, and as Marlena Hebburn would say, and as I would say like.

We’re not out to sell books, we’re out to change education. What I would suggest is buy the book or go to edge of protocols.com. There are tons of free templates for teachers to use on edge of protocols.com Okay. Which will make in the show notes.

So the easiest one to start. . Most teachers use quizzes, Lookit, GI Kit. Mm-hmm. or Kahoot. And the first one, the easiest one to start with, the one that I started with is called fast And the Curious, and you can use it with any of those programs. To me, this replaces worksheets.

I use it for vocabulary. I use it for questions for content. We’re learning that week. So the, the easiest one start with this is fast and curious. Throw in some vocabulary terms, throw in some content related stuff. I would keep it between 10 to 15 questions. And what you do is you just, On Monday, you throw it to the students, you have it up on the board, they come in, sign in, the quizzes or GIM kit, and they are probably gonna do really bad.

And that’s okay. And they’re probably gonna freak out. And they’re probably gonna ask, Is this for a grade? Because that’s what we’re used to. Right? Right. And I go, No, it’s not for a grade. Yeah. And I’m like, We’re gonna do multiple repetitions of this through the week. And so what happens is, is, and I use quizzes a.

And so they’ll take the quizzes. They’ll probably know not much of anything, and that’s fine. Yeah. And the class averages somewhere between 40 to 50%. Mm-hmm. . But then I go through the questions and I give feedback to the students. I talk about it, I give them some things to memorize this stuff. We’ll do our lesson for the day, and then we’ll hit what the fast and curious again, that same quiz is.

Mm-hmm. . And then the class average, based on whatever it is we do, will raise. 20, 30, 40 percentage points, right? Yeah. And so now we’re building confidence within the students. Mm-hmm. . And then when they come back on Tuesday, guess. Boom. We hit it again, the same quiz, and then we do our lesson. Yeah. And then Wednesday, boom, we hit it again.

And then Thursday our goal is to hit 80% or 90% class average. And so they’re getting the repetition. I don’t have to give worksheets. I’m giving feedback in real time. It pairs up with the lesson and I take their highest quizzes, score a GI kit score at the end of the. So that’s the easiest thing to start with.

You. You take something that we’ve always done, done quizzes or GI kit use and we use it as a review tool and you just change the whole dynamic of it.

The kids say to me all the time, Mr.

Mueller, this class is cool. We don’t take tests. And I went, Yeah, you do. You guys take tests every day? , Are you kidding me? I said, You just don’t realize you’re taking a test. Come on. Really? Yeah.

[00:14:06] Kara: Oh, that’s funny. So, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just cuz of the way it’s delivered.

[00:14:11] Adam: Yep. . One of my other ones , that I do, and, and like, I’ll use this as an example .

I went down, worked with one of the sixth grade teachers and we’re doing a unit on ancient Samaria. Okay. And, . The question was why do historians classify ancient Samaria or ancient Sumer as a civilization? And so the very first section in TCI or textbook says, What makes something, what makes a place of civilization?

It lists all these characteristics. , I told the teacher, You don’t need to have kids read that. We are gonna do a quizzes. So we did our fast and curious. Huh And as soon as the fast and curious was done, we brought in what’s called a thin slide. . And I said, Here’s your prompt. Here’s your question. What’s a characteristic of a civilization? You have one picture, one word, and you have three minutes to do it.

Go. . And so we set a timer and all these kids are putting down one picture, one word, and I’m going through it as they’re doing it. Soon as the timer is off, I shut down the share settings. They can no longer edit. And so here’s what I love about a thin slide. Number one, it’s so easy to do. You can make the slide right there in class and do it.

Number two, it takes three minutes for kids to do it. Number three. Now it’s go time. They have to present their slide in 10 seconds or less, right from their desk. But here’s what I love about it. I hate when kids read word for word from a slide. It like it, it’s so cringy, I can’t handle it. Right? Yeah. So the one picture and one word forces them to think on their.

Mm. And discuss their slide, right? Yeah. And so now we’re going through slide by slide. The kids are, and, and the kids are just talking about their slide. A characteristic of a civilization is culture, and then they have their picture, and then they just explain, and then I can hear all, all the kids speak.

All of them are heard. I can give feedback in real time. And then that led me into the lesson for the day. All right, here are the characteristics of ancient sum and why they classified it as a civilization. You guys hit on a ton of it already. Now you’re gonna choose one of those sections and now we’re gonna create something with that.

And so, Wow. Yeah. And, and, and it took all of two minutes to make and get ready. Yeah.

[00:16:38] Kara: They’re gonna remember it more because Yep. They’re doing the learning.

And that’s what I’ve talked about that before. Like the things even I remember from school when I think back are all project based. Mm-hmm.

[00:16:52] Adam: Yeah.

And those are the things that stick with me. Those types of like projects or those inquiry based learnings and things. Things that we discover on our own. Things that we create, things that we do, that’s the stuff that sticks with us. And there are tons of little elements of that within all of these protocols.

So I’m going back to that sixth grade social studies class today. Right. Okay. Yeah. We did a fast and curious, it was like 14 questions. They did the thin slide characteristics of a civilization.

Well, now what they did is they chose one of the sections, which are the different characteristics of a civilization. Okay. Now we moved on to what’s called a thick slide. And so a thick slide is a deconstructed paragraph is what it is. That’s how we think of it. Okay. And so on the slide I told the students, I had the students put your, change the title to your section or whatever, the main idea of your topic that you just read.

Mm-hmm. your characteristic of a civilization. Now list five important facts from your section. Add two pictures and write captions for those pictures. I want you to, and, and sometimes on there you have ’em. The students compare two things or multiple things, okay? But in this case, I said, What’s a modern day item?

That relates to your characteristic of a civilization and how does it relate? So that’s what we did. Okay. And then, And then we put a quote on it, some, some quote that stands out, something that is relevant to the topic. And so these students, and I set a timer for 20 minutes, but this was like their second rep.

So I did like 22, 23 minutes given one more time. Okay. And these students are just reading and they’re just creating. And making slides, but, and they’re adding all this information, and guess what? I didn’t lecture on this stuff. They’re not reading this, like doing the popcorn reading or whatever. They’re doing it.

They’re reading it, they’re creating it, and I’m walking around, the other teacher’s walking around, we’re asking questions. Kids are asking questions and because we set that timer so important because yeah, we, we gotta keep ’em on that time in that timeframe. And if they don’t finish, it’s okay. It’s okay because they’re gonna get better because we don’t do a fixed slide once.

We’re gonna do it 2, 3, 4, 5 times, times, or 10 times, hopefully throughout the school year. After the thick slide, what I have the students do, I have them share their slide links through a Google form, okay? And I create a spreadsheet from the Google form. And so now what we’re gonna do, what the students are gonna do tomorrow, they’re gonna access each other’s slides and they’re gonna fill out this, this graphic organizer about characteristics of ancient Sumeria

The kids are all contributing to each other’s learning. Wow. Yes. These are sixth graders. Yeah. Right. Yeah.

That’s so cool. And then along the way, we’re doing the fast and curious. And that’s the, that’s the check for understanding piece right there. So it, it is just a small sample of like how you can start with one protocol mm-hmm. or two, and really change the dynamic of your classroom. And if you really wanna up your game now you start adding in three, four different protocols.

And, and guess what? I’m not lecturing. Yeah. And, and the, the kids are all that. They’re doing everything. I’m just, I’m helping ’em along. I’m asking questions. I’m, Yeah, you’re

[00:20:33] Kara: a facilitator, which is really what

[00:20:34] Adam: you’re Yes. I’m supposed so just, just like, Just like when I’m coaching tennis, right. And matches, I’m giving feedback in their matches.

I’m coaching, I’m giving feedback, I’m doing the same thing in the classroom. I’m giving feedback, and that feedback could be, Why let’s shrink that title down so it doesn’t overlap the picture. This fact needs like a small detail. This picture like, if you don’t know how to duplicate something, here’s how you can do that.

Here’s how you can, A lot of kids don’t know how to add text boxes and stuff to a slide. I have to show ’em that. Yeah, and that’s like, the feedback can range from content related to just technology related really. , I can do it, but it’s all valuable. Yes, exactly. It’s only gonna help them in the future. So, So

[00:21:25] Kara: question about feedback.

Do you ever have the students, like, do you have the students do peer to peer feedback at all, or is it usually come from

[00:21:34] Adam: you? Yeah, so yes. A, a big part eventually of, Yeah. Yes. So, so and I learned this from a lady named Kim Vo. I learned this from her. It’s called Glows and Grows. And so, okay. So this happened last year. I’ll share a story with it. Last year. I was working with a teacher and, and the kids were actually doing a thick slide.

And she goes what if they don’t have a quote on their slide? What are we gonna do? What if they don’t have this on their slide? What are we gonna do? And I went, Dude, it’s okay. They’re like, she’s like, I, I would put a quote on there. I would do all this stuff. I’m like, You have a master’s degree, you totally would do it.

I have a master’s degree. I would do it. These kids are in sixth grade. It’s okay, . And she goes, she goes, I’m gonna have to go through everything tomorrow. I went, No you don’t. I said, Watch this. I said, Hey kids, you have 30 seconds to partner up with somebody. And they got together and partnered up and I went, All right.

You have one minute to tell your partner a glow or something that you really like about their slides. and then they all talked and and shared. And I said, All right, now you have two minutes to talk about a grow. What is something that they don’t have on their slides? Something that they need to fix or change or add?

Tell ’em. And then they all like, were like, Hey, you need a quote? Hey, you don’t have this fact. Hey, you need to do this. And I said, There you go. You’re working way too hard. You don’t need to go through this. Let them. I do that with my eighth graders all the time.

A glow and a grow. We create something, all right, partner up, what do you like, What can they grow in or possibly change or make better? So that’s awesome. But yes, the peer-to-peer feedback is, is super, super important and, and leads to like a amazing learning and growth among our students. So I, it’s something we definitely need to do more.

[00:23:36] Kara: How long are your class period?

[00:23:38] Adam: 47, 48 minutes.

[00:23:40] Kara: Okay. I was just curious how long you had ’em.

[00:23:42] Adam: I start off and I ask the kids how they’re doing, I say their name and ask ’em how they’re doing. Okay. And I try, I try to have everyone listen, Uhhuh, , so we can all kind of engage and listen to what people have to say or how somebody is doing.

[00:23:55] Kara: So if I wanted to go into my classroom tomorrow

[00:24:00] Adam: mm-hmm. ,

[00:24:01] Kara: and try this mm-hmm. . , what would you tell me to do if I don’t have an atom that can come to my classroom and

[00:24:06] Adam: help me?

I would tell you to start with the fast and the curious. Curious, Okay. Quizzes, GI Kit, look, it, Those are my favorites. Let the students take it.

And they’re gonna mess with it. They’re gonna fail with it, and we need to teach ’em that. That’s okay. Give feedback, do your lesson for the day, and then try to hit the fast and curious again at some.

Within that same class period. Okay. And, and seriously, it’s a confident builder. And then honestly, this day and age, a lot of our kids need a big confidence boost. Yeah, for sure. And they, yeah, and they need some support. This is just a small way that that can help.

And, and some kids really get into it and they feel successful and, and they love it. And so that’s, that’s what I would suggest, so, Okay.

[00:24:57] Kara: Yeah. Yep. I like it. I like it.

[00:25:00] Adam: I highly encourage everybody to check out Edge of Protocols, social studies, edit. Written by myself and my co-author, Scott Petri, who is a history teacher out in Los Angeles at John F.

Kennedy High School. Scott brings the high school. Point of view to edge of protocol, social studies. I bring the middle school point of view, and honestly, we’re just a great team. John Carpo put us together. Okay. And, and that’s, he goes, Hey hey guys, you wanna write a book?

It took a lot of Zoom sessions and. A lot of IPAs and stuff, and yeah, we knock the book out and, , everyone should check it out and get on Amazon. Barnes and Noble, I think even Walmart. If you are not a social studies teacher, let’s say you teach language arts or science it’s so adaptable across all content areas and all curriculum that like, like I know of several language arts and science teachers that have purchased our book, so that’s

[00:26:00] Kara: awesome. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, you didn’t pick up the social studies guide for edgy protocols. You . Realized that you could adapt it,

[00:26:08] Adam: so Exactly, and, and, and here’s what I like to share with everybody, right? So oftentimes we buy books. Yeah. We read the books and we think we. . Oh, this doesn’t fit with what I do.

We get so caught up in the rules of stuff. Yeah. And we get so caught up with how we need to do things. I think teachers, number one, are rule followers, right? Yeah. Yeah. And I think number two, we’re caught up in this textbook idea of we gotta follow the textbook. Curriculum and blah, blah, blah.

It’s like, no, just do your thing. Teach the kids. Yeah. And, and so for me, I started thinking like, Oh, I don’t really care about these rules. I’m gonna adapt it to what I do. I’m gonna adapt it to my students and make it work for me. And that’s what I did.

So here’s the other thing, right? Like some people are probably hearing this thinking, Oh, I’m not really good at tech.

I can’t do this. Well, guess what? A cyber sandwich I’ve been talking about. I randomly do them on paper throughout the school year. You don’t need technology to do. You can do it on paper.

[00:27:09] Kara: That’s a, I’m glad you mentioned that.

[00:27:12] Adam: Yeah. Yeah. , the thin slide. Some students, when we started the year off this year mm-hmm.

didn’t have Chromebooks and they’re like, Mr. Muller, I can’t do this. I can’t do a thin slide. I went, Yeah, you can. Here’s piece paper. Mm-hmm. , just write one draw, draw your own sketch and write one word on there. And then when it’s your turn to present, just talk about it, you know? Yeah. So you can turn any one of these protocols.

Into something on paper if you have to, because it’s honestly not about tech. It’s about changing the game, changing education, getting students, creating more critically, thinking, more, communicating with each other more and collaborating more. And you can do that through paper, through a chrome.

Through anything. Yeah. So

[00:27:57] Kara: which are all skills that the workforce is looking for? Yes, exactly. Cause think that’s also in a lot of those studies where they talk to, you know, business owners or CEOs of companies and whatever about new employees or what they’re lacking. Many times those skills are what comes.

[00:28:21] Adam: One of the other teachers I work with, I went down to a reading comprehension class and I had them do a thick slide too.

So, Okay. I’m like, Hey, I’m gonna take all these crappy worksheets and I’m gonna turn ’em into a thick, And so when the student opened up the thick slide on her computer mm-hmm. And the teacher went this is a thick slide. And the student opened it up.

She went, Oh, I know what this is. I’ve done this. We just did this last week. The teacher went, So you know what to do? And she went, Yeah. She goes, I got this. I’ll read the article and I’ll make this. So guess what? She didn’t have to spend five minutes talking about how to do it. The student opened it up, got right after it, made it happen.

Oh, that’s awesome. Yeah. So that’s like another benefit to this if you can get multiple teachers doing it to buy in. Yeah. Now you’re saving time and you’re getting back time to do more things with students,

[00:29:20] Kara: Which yeah, is awesome because every teacher needs more time. I feel like .

[00:29:25] Adam: Yeah.

[00:29:26] Kara: Do you ever record your class?

[00:29:28] Adam: no, no. I’ve, I I don’t record my class. . I’d be

[00:29:32] Kara: curious just to see it all in motion. .

[00:29:34] Adam: . A buddy of mine said that he wants to come and observe my class, come down and observe and uhhuh at school. Like I, you know, I have an open door. Come on in, just observe away and, yeah. Yeah.

So you know, anybody that wants to observe, , I’m open. I can do that.

You guys can follow me on. At Moler, m o l e r 3 0 3 1. You can follow me on Instagram at moler dot Adam. And then my blog mo’s musings.wordpress.com, we’ll put that in the show notes too.

, I’ve really, I, I’ve opened up my classroom. Through my blog Cool. And everything is there. I share 95% of my stuff and, and so I highly encourage anybody that wants to get an idea of how I put protocols together and how I plan my lessons, visit my blog, visit my site, and it’s all.

So

[00:30:37] Kara: awesome. Yeah.

. Well, thanks for chatting with me.

[00:30:41] Adam: Hey, well thanks for having me on, Kara. I

[00:30:42] Kara: really appreciate it. I know it’s been fun.

Guests

Adam Moler

Adam Moler has a passion for designing and creating lessons to engage all students. He continues to work on developing a student-centered classroom focused on critical thinking, creative thinking, collaboration, and communication getting students more involved with learning history.

Adam loves to share his passion for great teaching and learning with other educators. His blog, Moler’s Musings, shares his weekly reflections and thought processes through lesson design. He has also presented in-person and virtually for teachers all over the world. 

In his eleven years of teaching, Adam was recognized as the New Richmond Middle School Teacher of the Year in 2018, presented with his district’s Leading Lion Award in December of 2020, and recognized as the 2023 Ohio District 10 Teacher of the Year. He is also a Level 2 Google Certified Educator. 

Before becoming an educator, Adam was a tennis instructor, tournament director, and tennis director at various clubs in Cincinnati, Ohio.  The ideas of repetition and feedback through tennis instruction helped shape his educational philosophy. This is also a big reason EduProtocols resonated with him – the idea of letting students create their own learning with repetition and feedback in real-time. 

Adam is a graduate of Northern Kentucky University with a Bachelor of Arts in Integrated Social Studies, grades 7 through 12. He earned his start in education as a paraprofessional in a Social Communication Unit at Amelia High School. Upon leaving Amelia High School, and switching to New Richmond Middle School, Adam obtained a Master of Science in Special Education from Western Governors University in 2014. Adam has been a teacher at New Richmond Middle School for the past ten years. Teaching special education for two years and eighth-grade social studies for the past eight years. 

Adam lives in Cincinnati, Ohio (Who Dey!) with his wife, and their two daughters.