Episode 013: Interview with Kristy Cooper

For this episode of Passing Notes, I interviewed Kristy Cooper. Kristy is a 13-year veteran, teaching math and leadership at Del City High School in the Mid-Del School District. I have followed Kristy on twitter for years and have always been inspired by her deep relationships with the students she serves and her ability to empower her high school students in leadership capacities! Kristy is an amazing person and her personal life journey is inspiring to her students and other educators! You can find Kristy on twitter @kriscoop80

Below are the questions I prepared to ask Kristy (there were some follow up questions in the podcast that are not included below):

1. Tell me about your background and experience as an educator.
2. Explain the work you do with your high school students.
3. Leadership has played an important role in your classroom and how you design lessons, what are the important steps teachers can take to setting up leadership opportunities for students?
4. I would imagine that the leadership looks different for every student, what do you advise teachers to do to help draw out students who are more hesitant or don’t see themselves as a leader?
5. What role has building relationships with students has had on building leaders in your classroom?
6. How do you tap into your students’ culture and background when empowering them to be leaders?
7. What role does team building and relationship building between students play in your classroom?
8. How do you teach leadership?
9. How do you tie the community into your leadership class?
10. How do you empower your students to take the lessons they learn in the classroom with them into their communities and throughout your school?
11. In all things we scaffold for students, how do you provide scaffolds for students growing and developing in their leadership skills?
12. You have been an incredibly inspirational person to many educators, how has your personal struggle with health impacted your students?
13. How has your daily dedication to your students effected/changed how you view your health/healing?
14. What advice do you have for teachers who are looking for ways to adapt their classroom to provide more leadership roles?
15. What go to resources inspire you?

This episode was recorded at and mastered by Design Tunnel in downtown OKC!

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The Tech Series

I am very excited to share with listeners that starting August 10 the Passing Notes podcast is going to get techy! Every other week we will be releasing an episode focused on an aspect of implementing technology in the classroom or school. I talked with excellent educators across the state on topics from gamification to coding! I cannot wait to share with you what I learned from these excellent educators.

Episode 012: Interview with Kethzia Njikam

Kethzia is a parent educator with Oklahoma City Public Schools’ Parents as Teachers program. Kethzia meets with families regularly to support parents and guardians as they raise their children during the important development years before school entry.

Parents as Teachers is a home visiting program. Parent Educators meet with families, the OKCPS program particularly focuses on families with children between the ages of prenatal and school-aged, with the focus of strengthening families and building protective factors while connecting families to necessary resources.

Many school districts have a parent educating programs used to bridge the gap between home to school. Through this interview I wanted to engage educators in understanding a program that they may not be aware of in their school district and further glean lessons from home visiting that could be translated into school and classroom practices.

So, what is home visiting? I had to figure that out when I started working for OKCPS. Parent Educators meet with families, our program particularly focuses on families with children between the ages of prenatal to school-aged, with the focus of strengthening families and building protective factors. Kethzia is an excellent parent educator! If you are interested in knowing more about Parents as Teachers, click the link.

Below are the questions I prepared to ask Kethzia (there were some follow up questions in the podcast that are not included below):

1. Background/educational experience.
2. What is home visiting?
3. Tell us about the particular model that you use?
4. What does the model you follow offer the parents you serve?
5. Is there a benefit for parents participating in a home visiting program?
6. Are there results beyond participating in the program for families?
7. What could classroom teachers take away from the home visiting model?
8. Do you see a benefit to teachers using home visiting to connect parents to the classroom?
9. What recommendations would you have for classroom educators considering using home visiting their students’ parents?
10. What are the obstacles classroom educators should consider before home visiting?
11. How might using home visiting support classroom practices?
12. What resources have inspired/guided you as a home visitor?
13. What advice do you have for teachers considering implementing home visiting in their classroom?

This episode was recorded at Design Tunnel in downtown OKC!