Episode # 57

Benefitting from Observing with Dara Stinson

September 17, 2024

About This Episode

On this episode, Kara is joined by Dara Stenson, a PreK-2 lead teacher from Cincinnati Public Schools, who’s transforming the way young learners engage with technology.

Guests

Dara Stinson

Dara has 19 years of teaching experience across diverse settings like private, public, traditional, Montessori and Charter Schools. Her teaching spans from PreK to 3rd Grade, including Montessori 3-6 and 6-9. An alumna of Cincinnati Public School’s Blending Learning Academy, she’s passionate about integrating technology, utilizing tools like VR Goggles, Flip, Screencastify, Adobe Animate, Book Creator and Merge Cubes. Beyond the classroom, this Tech Influencer finds joy in running and exploring new places, having completed marathons in both Columbus (2021) and Chicago (2022). Married with 3 kids, her life is a vibrant blend of education, technology and family adventures.

Transcript

Kara 0:01
Hey, is this thing on? Are we recording? Can I get a tech person?

Oh, for the love of Ed Tech.

Joining us today is Dara Stenson, who is a pre K through two lead teacher with Cincinnati Public Schools, and I’m really excited to talk to Dara, because she is currently teaching preschool and has some really cool tech things that she does with her little ones that I’m always impressed by. So Dara, thanks for talking to me. Thank you. Thank

Dara 0:38
you. Thank Thank you. Yeah, honor and a privilege, as they say. Well, good,

Kara 0:43
I’m, yeah, I’m really excited for you to share what you’ve got going on with our listeners. So before we jump into all those great things, can you just tell us a little about your journey into education and how you even decided to become a teacher.

Dara 1:00
It’s funny. You should ask that. When I am asked this question by other educators, I there is a funny story, education was not my first choice. I think education more specifically a student chose me. Oh, I did not want to be a teacher. I made fun of all my friends in college who were education majors and told them that they were crazy, and why would you want to be around kids all day? Oh, my gosh, how could you No, seriously, that wasn’t me, that that was not my major. My major was actually communications. I had an idea what I wanted to be. Wanted to be some other things as well. But after graduation, I actually had a friend encouraged me to do some substitute teaching. So I tried my hand at that and said, Okay, let’s just see what this is about. And I had an opportunity to sub at a Head Start classroom. Oh, wow, there was a little I subbed everywhere. I subbed in high school. People thought that I was a student.

Kara 2:18
Oh, yeah, just

graduating from college, Yep,

Dara 2:22
yeah. I subbed as a gym teacher. That was pretty fun. I subbed in junior high, subbed in multiple elementary schools, but this one particular site that I was at was a Head Start classroom, and there was a little boy, and I will forever remember his name, the same was Bishop. And the teachers told me that bishop never talked to anyone. I didn’t know his backstory, but Bishop talked to me, and I thought maybe this is a sign that I might have a gift with kids. So after that experience, I really started thinking, and I started doing some research, and I looked at different colleges, local colleges, who had cohorts, who had the best programs, who had the best reputation, and as I was researching, I heard about this pedagogy called Montessori, and I’d never heard of that before, so I researched some programs and found out That Xavier University had one of the best Montessori programs in the city, and I thought I wanted to do something different. I didn’t want to just do traditional I wanted to do something different. And when I talk with other Montessori teachers, I thought, Wow, if I had been taught this way, maybe I would have been better at school, and maybe I could have understood math better. So that’s pretty much how I ended up in education.

Kara 4:11
So just to clarify with Montessori, what is kind of like the overarching approach to education.

Dara 4:22
Well, a lot of, a lot of people think that Montessori, you just let kids do whatever they want to do. Yeah, that’s that’s the common misconception and and that’s far from what it is. And I always encourage people, if you’re interested in Montessori, go to a classroom. Observe. That was one of our responsibilities in the program, was to observe various Montessori classrooms, public, private setting. As a matter of fact, that was a part of our program for student teaching. I spent one semester in public. One semester in private, I’ve seen urban Montessori classrooms and I’ve seen private Montessori classrooms, and there’s a difference. But to answer your question, Montessori uses hands on manipulatives to teach lessons. We also have what is called a three period lesson, and it’s kind of an assessment that we use whereas say, for instance, I say that this is a pencil, I’m giving you the vocabulary that this is a pencil. And then the next question that I ask, Can you point to the pencil? So I’m asking you to identify what an object is. And then the last question is, can you tell me what that is? So this is whatever the object is, show me or point to whatever the object is. And then, can you use that vocabulary? And what I’ve learned is with Montessori, I can interchange what I’ve learned in the traditional setting. Ah, some people may not agree with that. Mm, hmm, but we all use tools, yeah, for different things, and I think Montessori has helped me, especially in preschool, in kindergarten and in first grade, those are the grades that I’ve taught, how

Kara 6:41
or why did you start using technology with your preschool? Preschoolers?

Dara 6:49
Okay? So, you know, every year, teachers reflect, right? We’re reflectors. We think about, you know, our day. How can we improve? What could I do better? And that that that was something that I wanted to do better at. I’m not going to say that I was afraid of technology. I just knew that times were changing, and I wanted to be in the know so I took some professional development classes with our district, and I started using like YouTube videos to get students engaged, like Jack Hartman and phonics videos things to Get students moving. You know, I don’t want to make I want to make my learning interactive. I want to make it fun. And I think just sitting down, listening to my voice is highly not interactive. And so I like to get up and move and do dances and that type of thing. I loved Brain Pop Junior. I thought that was really cool to have my students. I think I started that in in kindergarten, and just having them to watch the interactive videos and answer questions along the way and the activities that they provided. And then, of course, Starfall, if you’re a primary teacher, Starfall is big, using the calendar and being able to to design, you know what you wanted at the top of your calendar and count and the days of the week. Just try to get kids interactive that way. Yeah,

Kara 8:36
I love that. Because do you do you remember Dr Jean? Yes,

Dara 8:42
yes, I do. I think I do the the bear hunt,

Kara 8:47
that is one of my favorites.

Dara 8:49
So when we’re talking about maps, that is a video that I use, and we’re talking about, oh no, not maps. We’re talking about positional words, can’t go over it, can’t go under it. You gotta go through it. And so we talk about that a lot, but yes, I love Miss Jean. The videos is how I started, yeah, and, and, and I got comfortable with that. But there was a program I have to give a shout out to, CPS. It was a program called Blended Learning Academy, and I think that’s really what started to jumpstart the whole technology for me. I got to learn more about Kahoot and Flipgrid, which I’m saddest in the sunset, and I heard about VR goggles in that program. And being the only preschool teacher, my brain is always thinking about, how can I you? Use these technology tools to fit my littles. I know the older grades use it, but I I’m always thinking about, how can I make it so that my preschoolers can benefit from it as well, and then the timing of that whole blended Academy was perfect, because that was right before covid And when covid hit. There are a lot of bad things that covid brought out, but there’s also a lot of positive things that covid brought out. And for me, covid allowed me to try things digitally that I would not have tried before, because if you failed, it’s okay. You can try again, yeah, if something didn’t work, okay, let’s, let’s try it a different way. Or, okay, this worked, but this didn’t work. So I did Kahoot with my students. I did flip good projects remotely. VR goggles were in the back of my head. I got to that a little bit later, and then also right before covid, there was a program at NKU to help teachers learn more about STEM and one of the things that we received were bbots and botley, so I got that STEM experience as well. Yeah,

Kara 11:43
that’s cool. Well, because didn’t you do something with the bee bot and like identifying colors or something like that? Yes.

Dara 11:53
So another great resource that I love is teacher pay teacher and so I had to be by. I got the B by being a participant in the STEM program. And I just happened to look on teacher, pay teacher, and there were different types of maps. There was a telling time map, it was a shape map, there was a color map. So I’m thinking preschool, right, and I’m thinking stem, and so I used B bot to teach my preschoolers, left, right, which, which are your positions and also colors. And that was really cool, too,

Kara 12:34
yeah, and give them, like, a little bit exposure to coding, even though,

Dara 12:38
yes, yes, yes. And who would have thought that three, four or five year olds could coat but that’s what I like. I like, you know what? I don’t think they can do it. Or my students can’t do it. It’s, it’s, it’s too complicated, it’s too over their head. Or they use technology too much at home. Well, let me change your mind. Let me show you what we can do. Yeah, and just making it engaging, my whole thing is, I want to have fun, and I want to learn while we’re having fun. So, so what

Kara 13:08
is something you like to share with other educators when it comes to integrating technology? And do you have any tips?

Dara 13:16
Yes, absolutely. Um, so what, what I would like to share, or my advice would be to participate and or attend conferences, tech conferences. For example, our district has the innovative practice conference, IPC conference, I believe we’ve had it twice so far, recently, last May, and then about a year or two. I want to say before that I got to experience and play around with different tech tools. I think that would be a good resource to start. Also, there’s the Ohio Educational Technology Conference where I met you, which is a slightly bigger, a slightly bigger conference, but I really got to see a lot more toys at that conference. And I think with just being in that space, teachers can get an idea on what might work for them in their classroom, because that’s that’s what helped me. There’s another conference that I just found out about this year, called the International Society for Technology. It see, and I think that’s a good resource as well. And any of these conferences that I’m mentioning, if a teacher sees. Something that they want to use, talk to your principal, see if that’s something that they can include in their budget. I mentioned VR goggles before. I really, really, really, really wanted them at one of them for myself, I talked to my I talked to my principal, and we just happen to have a grant for STEM lab, and that was one thing that I had recommended that they have in there, so that all the teachers in our building have an opportunity to use it at whenever they have an activity that they would like to use it for. If that doesn’t if going to conferences or your your principal doesn’t have something in the budget for that, our district has a learning technology team, which is amazing, all of them, they are willing to come out and train you if you’re interested in something and that, those are the tips that I would say, if you’re in the district, or if you’re able to attend any of those Conferences. That’s that’s what I would recommend now say, for instance, your admin doesn’t have it in the budget, and you really, really want something, and you saw, let’s just say, a cue ball at one of these conferences. Like myself, I saw a toy that I really, really, really, really wanted, and I didn’t think that my building had that in the budget, but I really wanted it try Donors Choose, and you’d be surprised at what you can find there and get for Your own room. So those are my tips. Attend. Get out there if you have an idea. If you have a concept, but you’re not quite sure how you would use it in your classroom. Reach out to our learning technology team, because they are the best. I had a teacher show me how to use the VR goggles a crash course in an hour. Oh, no, I’ve had someone teach me how to use Screencastify. I had an idea where I had an emerging reader in my classroom, but I wanted I can see what they’re reading. They can see what they’re reading, but say, for instance, their parent or an intervention specialist may not be able to see what they’re reading and how they’re decoding. So I needed to put that. I needed to get that idea out and Miss Tiffany gray assisted me from our learning technology team, and she saw my vision, and she suggested Screencastify, and I’ve been using it since so which,

Kara 18:10
yeah, if anybody’s interested, they should check out your social media to see some of your videos of our little babies. Reading, I love it. Talking, I loved the little, the little bag project you did, where they talked about, like a famous

Dara 18:27
the brown bag project, yes, yeah, yes. And I, you know, I, you know, pictures are worth 1000 words, but videos are forever. And we see that in our society, we see that on the news, so why not use it in the classroom, and not just with your phone, but use it with a purpose, where you’re you’re editing, your recording, your app smashing, You’re using interactive questions. Whole group, one on one. I love big, big, big, big, big, big advocate,

Kara 19:06
which really quickly say, your, your handle, stara, Edu seven. Edu seven, okay, yes. And since you mentioned app smashing. I was going to ask, what are your favorite apps to smash?

Dara 19:29
Obviously Screencastify. It was flip. I used to use Screencastify as editing for my flip videos. I love Adobe anime. I found out about that through one of the conferences. I met someone that said, Hey, you teach preschool. You might want to use this. So that’s why I say. Attending these conferences, you get to be around a lot of people and see a lot of great things. Um, and the works, and so Adobe, animate, animate, I love the app, smash with that, but, yeah, those would probably be my top app. Smash, but um, I do have a special place in my heart for VR goggles. Yeah, I would highly encourage any teacher who has some budget restraints and aren’t able to take as many field trips as they would like, I would highly recommend that they look into virtual reality. I just found out that our learning technology team purchased another type of virtual reality goggles, where you can use them for assessments. So it’s not just looking, but you’re actually answering questions, like you would with Screencastify, with the interactive questions. So that’s that’s really cool too. But like I said, my tip, or the thing that I always try to tell teachers when I’m doing a professional development is just try it. Just get out there. Try to have an open mind. If you’re not good with technology, it’s okay. You’re not going to break anything. It can be fixed. It can be deleted. You can practice again. The first time that I use Screencastify, I was on my couch. It was, it was, I wasn’t even at school, but I played around with the video. I wanted to see how things work, and that’s how I started. So just trying to have an open mind, you can use technology effectively. It doesn’t have to be every day. It can be purposeful. It can be a good thing, but you got to buy into it.

Kara 21:51
Yeah, for sure. And I think your advice is good, just just to play. Yes, I play. Just try. Just try it. Um, so what are some of your favorite ways to use technology in the classroom?

Dara 22:07
Virtual Reality goggles, because that was the first toy that I really, really, really, really wanted. Our school has is a global environmental literacy. It’s a gel school. So we there are five components, and one of the components is global literacy. And we want to encourage our students to think outside of our community, globally. So I’m always looking at ways to incorporate learning about cultures and celebrations and heritage. And one of the very first studies, cultural studies that I did was on Brazil. We traveled using the VR goggles. We traveled down the Amazon River. We danced at carnival. Oh, cool. We looked at different animals in the rainforest. So when I have an idea and I’m talking with my para and my assistant, we just try to think of different places that we would like to go or take our students. We’ve been to Italy, we’ve been to the Middle East. Do you remember that natural disaster in Tonga that we had? I think it was a tsunami. It was a couple I think it was right after, it was during covid. I used that as a learning opportunity, and we swam with sharks. That’s always a fun one.

Kara 23:47
Oh, cool.

Dara 23:48
I love that. Yes, we talk about food. We sample food. One thing that we did recently, I think, over the winter, is we learned about reindeer and their habitats. You can look up multiple things on virtual reality, and it’s not just for preschool, and it’s not just for places. It’s 3d images. So if you’re teaching math, you can look at a sphere, you can look at a cube. They have physical education lessons that you can try on virtual reality. Yeah, so it’s, it’s, it’s, there’s a lot of things that you can do with virtual reality. We talked about Screencastify. I love Adobe. One thing that I used with that app was teaching kids how to tell a story with a beginning, middle and end. What I would do is I would take a student and I. Talk with them about a story. Can you tell me a story? Okay, and sometimes they’re thrown off and they don’t, yeah, okay, well, where, where are you going with this? Miss Dara, so Well, if you could tell a story, what characters would you have in your story? So I’m giving them vocabulary. We’re talking about the setting, because with Adobe anime, you can create a character, say, for us, you want to be an alien and you want to be on Mars, or if you want to be a football and you want to tell a story about a game that you had played and how many touchdowns you made, it’s a very good creative tool to use to get kids thinking about a story and talking to them about a plot and what happened at the end of the story and what was your favorite part. So that’s really engaging, too.

Kara 25:51
That’s really cool. And I’m like, envisioning doing this with preschoolers, and I’m like, Oh my gosh, how much fun. And sometimes it

Dara 25:59
works, and sometimes you have to come back, but it’s okay, yes, Alright, the next day. Okay. I want you to think, Carol, I want you to think about a story. What kind of story? You know it might be something that happened to that kid that morning, or they might tell you about a trip that they took in an airplane. Oh, what’d you see? Oh, that’s really cool. Or, you know, you were playing basketball, how many points did you score? Did you dunk on anybody? Like, I’m giving them, I’m giving them some ideas, and then their imagination just takes off.

Kara 26:30
Yeah, that’s so cool. And some of that stuff they will remember for a long time. I mean, there are some things I remember from preschool that all had to they it all centered around experience exactly,

Dara 26:45
and to go back to Screencastify and app smashing. When I share these videos with parents on Dojo or during parent teacher conferences, or when I’m presenting at a conference, they can hear themselves, or the parents get an opportunity to see, oh, wow, that’s really cute. Or, Wow, I didn’t think that they knew how to add, or I didn’t think that they knew how to read. And, wow, that’s pretty amazing. Like, they love to see themselves on camera. They love to hear themselves, and they want to try it again. And I have kids, can we do what we did yesterday? Or, you know, when I get done with this, can we do that? And I’m like, Sure. Give me a second. You know, let’s think about this. All right, what are we going to say again? And sometimes you might hear me whisper, and then they’ll say something else, but it’s their words, it’s their story. And

Kara 27:39
your kiddos are lucky to have you.

Dara 27:42
Thank you. Yeah, I, I hope so. But you know what it’s I try to tell parents, especially is not, it’s not me, like, it’s them, like they’re doing it. Yeah, I’m just giving you, I’m just showing you what they’re doing. A lot of times, it’s it’s all them. They’re just they’re just ready.

Kara 28:09
Thank you so much for listening to this episode. We hope you found our discussion interesting and insightful. Don’t forget to check out the show notes on our website, where you’ll find more information about today’s guest resources we mentioned, and information on earning contact hours for listening, please

subscribe, share it with your network and check us out@forthelovedtech.org This podcast is produced by soyda, the southwestern Ohio Instructional Technology Association, in partnership with think TV and CET, the Local PBS stations in Dayton and Cincinnati. Until next time, keep exploring new ways to empower your students through tech, and we’ll catch you in the next episode. You.