The Best of the Best

David Owen: 00:00:00

Each year, there's always a lot of hoopla about our teacher of the year.

David Owen: 00:00:04

What makes a great teacher is next on the Inside Scoop.

David Owen: 00:00:10

Hello and welcome back.

David Owen: 00:00:11

I'm David Owen.

David Owen: 00:00:12

You can hear the Inside Scoop now on iheart Podcasts as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and many other podcast platforms, including YouTube.

David Owen: 00:00:22

Just make sure you subscribe and turn on notifications so you don't miss an episode when it's published each Wednesday.

David Owen: 00:00:28

Cobb works hard each year to find and keep great teachers Together with the Cobb Chamber, we get to celebrate some of the best in each of our schools.

David Owen: 00:00:38

But then we also celebrate the best of the best at each level, elementary, middle, and high.

David Owen: 00:00:45

Finally, one of those is chosen to represent all of our excellent teachers we have in our district.

David Owen: 00:00:51

Today I'm joined by our district level teacher of the year, Mrs.

David Owen: 00:00:55

Karen Wright.

David Owen: 00:00:55

Karen, welcome to the podcast.

Karen Wright: 00:00:57

Thank you.

Karen Wright: 00:00:58

Thank you so much for having me.

Karen Wright: 00:00:59

This is a first.

David Owen: 00:01:00

Well, very briefly.

David Owen: 00:01:01

And you are not normally in the spotlight, right?

David Owen: 00:01:05

That's a different life for you.

Karen Wright: 00:01:06

Yes, it is.

David Owen: 00:01:07

Tell us a little bit about who you are, where you came from, a little bit about Karen Wright.

Karen Wright: 00:01:12

All right.

Karen Wright: 00:01:13

I grew up just outside of Chicago.

Karen Wright: 00:01:16

Been here since: 1989

David Owen: 00:01:19

Okay.

Karen Wright: 00:01:20

I started out school here and switched gears kind of about two and a half years into college and switched to education.

David Owen: 00:01:29

From what?

Karen Wright: 00:01:30

From interior design and architecture, of all things.

Karen Wright: 00:01:34

So there's a big backstory to that one, but it revolves around my aunt who was a teacher who said that she thought I would make a great teacher.

Karen Wright: 00:01:42

And I really wasn't sure about that.

Karen Wright: 00:01:44

But here we are, proof that she was right.

Karen Wright: 00:01:47

So I have a family.

Karen Wright: 00:01:50

I have an almost 17 year old son who goes to school at Etowah High School in Cherokee County.

Karen Wright: 00:01:56

And that's okay.

David Owen: 00:01:57

We'll forget that.

Karen Wright: 00:01:58

Yeah.

Karen Wright: 00:01:58

Yes, I know, I know.

Karen Wright: 00:02:00

And my husband Daniel, who is the outside operations manager at one of the marinas on the lake.

David Owen: 00:02:06

Okay, very cool.

David Owen: 00:02:07

Very cool.

David Owen: 00:02:08

So we understand how you got to the Atlanta area, but what inspired you to become a teacher with Cobb in particular?

Karen Wright: 00:02:17

In particular with Cobb.

Karen Wright: 00:02:18

My family lived in Cobb, although I was already out of high school, so I really didn't have a connection to Cobb schools.

Karen Wright: 00:02:26

But when I started at Kennesaw State, started into the education curriculum and doing student teaching, I ended up in Cobb county schools doing my field experience and my student teaching.

Karen Wright: 00:02:40

And so I got my feet wet there and really enjoyed the school system and the teachers and the leadership.

Karen Wright: 00:02:48

And it was the only place I applied.

Karen Wright: 00:02:51

So I was hired as a supply teacher in.

Karen Wright: 00:02:55

At Murdoch elementary and went from there.

David Owen: 00:02:59

Okay, and you've been here how many years was that since?

Karen Wright: 00:03:04

89.

Karen Wright: 00:03:04

So 35.

Karen Wright: 00:03:05

That's a lot of years more than I was in Chicago, so I'm probably a native now.

David Owen: 00:03:10

So you've had lots of chances to leave.

David Owen: 00:03:12

What has kept you here?

Karen Wright: 00:03:15

Well, I think I have always stayed.

Karen Wright: 00:03:18

I believe in loyalty.

Karen Wright: 00:03:19

I know that sounds really strange in these days and age.

Karen Wright: 00:03:22

I really do believe in loyalty to places that have served you well, and Cobb has served me well.

Karen Wright: 00:03:30

I have enjoyed the schools that I've taught at.

Karen Wright: 00:03:32

I've had great leadership in those schools and within the county.

Karen Wright: 00:03:36

I did at one point think of leaving because, as I said, my son is in Cherokee county and our breaks were different.

Karen Wright: 00:03:43

And so when he was younger, that was really a struggle.

Karen Wright: 00:03:46

Now that he's older, he goes off with his friends and he just got back from his break, and then I went on mine.

Karen Wright: 00:03:52

So it's not as difficult now, but that would have been.

Karen Wright: 00:03:55

That was one of the reasons I had considered leaving, but I just didn't want to.

Karen Wright: 00:04:00

It's a great place to teach.

Karen Wright: 00:04:03

We have wonderful teachers here.

Karen Wright: 00:04:05

We attract wonderful teachers here, and we have great leadership.

Karen Wright: 00:04:09

So I have just decided to stick it out.

David Owen: 00:04:12

Okay.

Karen Wright: 00:04:12

27 years.

David Owen: 00:04:13

Yeah, that's.

David Owen: 00:04:14

I was gonna say you're getting close to that 30 year mark.

David Owen: 00:04:17

27 years.

David Owen: 00:04:17

Not gonna retire anytime soon.

Karen Wright: 00:04:19

Not until least 30.

Karen Wright: 00:04:21

I'll have a son in college, so we'll have to see how that goes.

David Owen: 00:04:25

Yeah, I can tell you it's not a fun time of life.

David Owen: 00:04:28

But anyway, that's a separate podcast.

David Owen: 00:04:31

So you recently.

David Owen: 00:04:34

I mean, this teacher of the year thing wasn't that long ago that you just found out that you were teacher of the year.

David Owen: 00:04:42

Tell us about that day that you found that out.

Karen Wright: 00:04:44

So originally, as you had said earlier in your opening, we found out the three of us, elementary, middle and high school that we had at our levels.

Karen Wright: 00:04:54

And so that was extremely exciting and overwhelming in a whirlwind, as we talked about earlier.

Karen Wright: 00:04:59

And then we got about 10 days into school, and our school does something called house teams, similar to Harry Potter, where we each have a color team.

Karen Wright: 00:05:11

And so the classes are associated with a color, yellow, red, green, or blue.

Karen Wright: 00:05:17

And every year we announce that color for your classes.

Karen Wright: 00:05:21

And so we normally do this on the blacktop with these cool popper things, but apparently, quote, unquote, they were on back order.

Karen Wright: 00:05:29

And so we had everybody in the cafeteria for an assembly.

Karen Wright: 00:05:34

Our theme this year was or Is make your mark believe.

Karen Wright: 00:05:40

And so our principal had a magician come for the kids beforehand and before we announced our color teams.

Karen Wright: 00:05:49

And at the end of that magic show, he said, well, we have one more magic trick, and opened up the curtains and there was Superintendent Chris Ragsdale.

Karen Wright: 00:06:00

And at that point, I really knew what was going on.

Karen Wright: 00:06:03

And so, you know, the media is immediately in your face and everybody's at cameras and everybody's cheering and they whisk you up on stage.

Karen Wright: 00:06:11

So it was a really, really exciting day and a bit overwhelming, I could imagine.

David Owen: 00:06:16

So how did that make you feel?

Karen Wright: 00:06:17

So on the school level, you're selected.

Karen Wright: 00:06:19

You're nominated by a peer or two or three, whoever decides to nominate you.

Karen Wright: 00:06:24

Then you're voted in by your school.

Karen Wright: 00:06:27

At that point, they ask you this question.

Karen Wright: 00:06:31

Do you want to run for Cobb county teacher of the Year?

Karen Wright: 00:06:34

And I remember sitting in book club with my kids and my principal coming over and asking me that question.

Karen Wright: 00:06:40

I was like, well, yeah, yeah, sure.

Karen Wright: 00:06:41

You know, And I move on.

Karen Wright: 00:06:44

Finished up with the book club.

Karen Wright: 00:06:45

And then you get the application and you get all these emails stat, what you need to do.

Karen Wright: 00:06:50

And it's a very long and intense process of writing and videos.

Karen Wright: 00:06:55

And so after you.

Karen Wright: 00:06:59

I was selected as a finalist, and I had to do a video and sent that in.

Karen Wright: 00:07:03

And then you waited all summer.

Karen Wright: 00:07:05

And so once you.

Karen Wright: 00:07:08

At pre planning is when they announced the levels.

Karen Wright: 00:07:10

And then again, two weeks into school, they announced teacher.

Karen Wright: 00:07:13

A Cobb county teacher of the year.

David Owen: 00:07:15

Okay, so you found out that you were the school teacher of the year at the end of last school year, April.

David Owen: 00:07:21

Okay.

Karen Wright: 00:07:21

Yeah.

David Owen: 00:07:22

Wow.

David Owen: 00:07:23

Tell us about that level winner day.

Karen Wright: 00:07:26

I didn't know that I had won.

David Owen: 00:07:28

Yeah.

Karen Wright: 00:07:29

So we were sitting in the media center for the first day of pre planning, and my back was to the door, and my principal kept looking at the door and kept looking at the door and kept looking at the door, and we're all like, what is she doing?

Karen Wright: 00:07:42

What is going on?

Karen Wright: 00:07:43

And she made us wear our school shirts, which she never does.

Karen Wright: 00:07:46

And so all of a sudden she says, and we have some special guests, and in walks the entourage of the superintendent and the media and my family.

Karen Wright: 00:07:58

And it was extremely overwhelming but extremely exciting to finally kind of see where this had all landed.

David Owen: 00:08:07

So it just.

David Owen: 00:08:08

You had two big days of revelation to you.

Karen Wright: 00:08:11

Yes.

David Owen: 00:08:11

Not the least of which is representing the entire district.

David Owen: 00:08:13

Do you feel that pressure?

Karen Wright: 00:08:15

You know, there is a little pressure.

Karen Wright: 00:08:16

There's a little pressure there.

David Owen: 00:08:18

You represent a great group of teachers.

David Owen: 00:08:20

I mean, like any other, I Do.

Karen Wright: 00:08:22

It is.

Karen Wright: 00:08:23

It does.

Karen Wright: 00:08:24

There is a little bit of weight there that you feel just because, you know, you go to your classroom every day and you do what you do and you go home.

Karen Wright: 00:08:31

And now there's a lot.

Karen Wright: 00:08:32

There's a lot of activities going on.

Karen Wright: 00:08:35

A lot of people in my classroom taking video, taking pictures, interviewing me, interviewing kids, interviewing staff, which is very exciting for everybody.

Karen Wright: 00:08:43

The kids.

Karen Wright: 00:08:44

I think the kids reaction to them announcing this was probably the most incredible part of it because they were so excited.

David Owen: 00:08:54

Tell me about.

David Owen: 00:08:55

I can't recall, did you mention what grade level you teach?

Karen Wright: 00:08:58

I teach fourth grade.

Karen Wright: 00:08:59

I teach fourth grade, so.

Karen Wright: 00:09:01

But the whole school was in, you know, all third, fourth, and fifth grade were all in the cafeteria at the time, and they were crying and they were shouting and clapping.

Karen Wright: 00:09:10

I mean, it's really exciting.

Karen Wright: 00:09:12

Yeah, really exciting.

David Owen: 00:09:13

And there's that personal connection with those students.

David Owen: 00:09:15

They feel like it's almost an award to them.

Karen Wright: 00:09:18

That's right.

Karen Wright: 00:09:18

That's right.

David Owen: 00:09:19

So I know this is a long journey.

David Owen: 00:09:23

This lasts for a year, right?

Karen Wright: 00:09:25

Yes.

David Owen: 00:09:26

So it may be too soon to ask you what's been the most enjoyable part.

David Owen: 00:09:31

I guess maybe you haven't had a chance really to.

Karen Wright: 00:09:34

Well, I will say that the upcoming month is about to be very exciting because this is the first of a step.

Karen Wright: 00:09:44

Well, I would say last.

Karen Wright: 00:09:45

The week before break, they came and filmed in my classroom.

Karen Wright: 00:09:48

That was really exciting for the kids.

Karen Wright: 00:09:50

Interviewed me and colleagues, as I said.

Karen Wright: 00:09:53

And then you sent the email and said, would you like to come to our podcast?

Karen Wright: 00:09:57

Which I had never done before.

Karen Wright: 00:09:59

And I thought, well, that's really exciting.

Karen Wright: 00:10:01

So on the 8th of this month is the handprint ceremony in Marietta square.

Karen Wright: 00:10:06

On the 21st is the teacher of the Year pep rally.

Karen Wright: 00:10:10

And on the 4th, we get our cars.

David Owen: 00:10:15

Okay, that's.

David Owen: 00:10:16

That's the part that most people would jump to.

David Owen: 00:10:19

But I mean, first, all that stuff in between, of course, the podcast being the most exciting.

Karen Wright: 00:10:26

It is.

Karen Wright: 00:10:26

It's the.

Karen Wright: 00:10:26

It's something I've never done before.

David Owen: 00:10:29

Okay, the car wins.

David Owen: 00:10:30

Let's just.

David Owen: 00:10:31

Let's go ahead and say the car wins.

David Owen: 00:10:32

But that.

David Owen: 00:10:33

That ceremony on the square of the hand ceremony, I mean, that I've walked by that.

David Owen: 00:10:38

I'm sure a lot of.

David Owen: 00:10:39

A lot of other folks have, too.

David Owen: 00:10:40

And you see all these names of teachers that you just can't imagine how many students those teachers represent.

David Owen: 00:10:48

Right.

Karen Wright: 00:10:48

Yeah, it's a bit surreal.

David Owen: 00:10:50

So just cutting to the chase, the car, you know, he always says it.

David Owen: 00:10:58

Our superintendent's a car guy.

Karen Wright: 00:10:59

Yeah.

David Owen: 00:11:00

Are you going to seek his advice for.

Karen Wright: 00:11:03

Well, my son and my husband would really like me to follow his advice, but I'm a little more of a practical girl myself.

Karen Wright: 00:11:12

And so, you know, I know there's a lot of choices going on there.

Karen Wright: 00:11:15

It's funny, that Saturday night.

Karen Wright: 00:11:17

Well, I was watching the Georgia game.

Karen Wright: 00:11:20

Yeah.

Karen Wright: 00:11:21

And sitting on the couch with my husband, and we are looking at the dealerships and the different cars that are on there.

Karen Wright: 00:11:28

So, you know, it's really just going to boil down to when we get there, what options we have.

Karen Wright: 00:11:33

And there's a lot of unknown, a lot of unanswered questions that I have about how this works.

Karen Wright: 00:11:37

Yeah.

David Owen: 00:11:38

And that's a good point right there.

David Owen: 00:11:40

A lot of people don't know, so maybe I should explain.

David Owen: 00:11:44

Unless you'd like to.

Karen Wright: 00:11:45

Well, from what I understand, and I could be wrong on some of these points, but at the Teacher of the year pep rally, each of us, the middle school and high school and elementary school level teachers, choose out of a.

Karen Wright: 00:12:00

A bucket or a basket of a dealership from Ed Voyles, who I believe is a partner for Cobb Chamber of Commerce.

David Owen: 00:12:07

Absolutely.

Karen Wright: 00:12:07

And we then go to the dealership of.

Karen Wright: 00:12:11

That we have chosen and choose a car that we get to use for the year of being Teacher of the year for that level.

David Owen: 00:12:20

Exactly.

Karen Wright: 00:12:21

So that is very exciting.

Karen Wright: 00:12:23

And, you know, my husband's and my son just can't even believe it.

Karen Wright: 00:12:27

Like, they're so excited.

David Owen: 00:12:29

How do I get in on this?

Karen Wright: 00:12:30

That's right.

David Owen: 00:12:30

Actually, they kind of do.

Karen Wright: 00:12:31

They kind of do.

David Owen: 00:12:32

That's right.

David Owen: 00:12:33

So it's a free lease for an entire year.

Karen Wright: 00:12:36

Insurance is covered?

David Owen: 00:12:37

Yeah.

David Owen: 00:12:37

Oh, really?

Karen Wright: 00:12:38

I didn't know that part.

Karen Wright: 00:12:39

I think so, I'm pretty sure.

David Owen: 00:12:42

Are there any things that you could say or lessons that you've learned throughout your career that have helped you be a great teacher?

Karen Wright: 00:12:52

I think I'm a realist.

Karen Wright: 00:12:54

And that when you're teaching children, you need to be real, you need to connect to those kids.

Karen Wright: 00:13:01

And I know that that's kind of the buzzword of build relationships, but this goes back as early as time with teaching children.

Karen Wright: 00:13:09

The connections that you make with kids mean something.

Karen Wright: 00:13:13

When they know that you care, they care.

Karen Wright: 00:13:15

Back there is a method or a philosophy that I lived by for a long, long time called the Prime Directive.

Karen Wright: 00:13:25

And it is theirs to ours and ours to theirs.

Karen Wright: 00:13:31

And what that means is that when we go into their world, into the children's world, and we listen to them and we hear about their.

Karen Wright: 00:13:40

The things that they're Interested in the video games they play, the language they speak, you know, all of these types of things and we get to know them and we genuinely show interest, then we have taken ourselves and put ourselves in their world.

Karen Wright: 00:13:58

So once they realize that we are invested in them, when we want to bring them into our world to teach them what we, the content that we want to teach, they're more likely to listen and be engaged than if they think we don't care.

David Owen: 00:14:15

Yeah.

Karen Wright: 00:14:17

So just something that I've always lived by.

Karen Wright: 00:14:20

I really believe in connection with kids getting to know them, what their interests are, like I said, their language.

Karen Wright: 00:14:26

My 17 year old, almost 17 year old son often gives me the new list of words and what they mean.

David Owen: 00:14:32

He's very generous.

Karen Wright: 00:14:33

Well, because I say, what does this mean?

Karen Wright: 00:14:36

Because I hear the kids talking about it and if I don't know, well, first of all, I need to know what they're talking about.

Karen Wright: 00:14:43

But when I use those words in class, kind of gives you a little bit of street cred, you know, they, they say, well, okay, she's interested.

Karen Wright: 00:14:51

I can't believe she used that word.

Karen Wright: 00:14:52

You know, and you use it correctly.

David Owen: 00:14:54

Okay, so that's the trick.

Karen Wright: 00:14:56

That's the trick.

Karen Wright: 00:14:56

You gotta use it correctly.

Karen Wright: 00:14:57

Otherwise they're like, oh gosh, she doesn't know what she's talking about.

Karen Wright: 00:15:00

You know.

David Owen: 00:15:00

Well, I was gonna say, it backfires with me.

David Owen: 00:15:02

I've got teenagers and they just look at me sideways.

David Owen: 00:15:05

I'm like, I didn't use it right.

David Owen: 00:15:07

Did they?

David Owen: 00:15:07

Did I?

David Owen: 00:15:08

And they, no, you didn't.

Karen Wright: 00:15:09

When they're talking about their sports team or they're talking about Pokemon.

Karen Wright: 00:15:14

I know I'm a fourth grade teacher, so those are the kinds of things I hear from kids or the music that they listen.

Karen Wright: 00:15:20

And you genuinely can speak their speak, you know, and they are sometimes dumbfounded by that.

Karen Wright: 00:15:27

You know, she really, she really knows what she's talking about.

David Owen: 00:15:30

You shouldn't know this stuff.

Karen Wright: 00:15:31

You shouldn't know this stuff.

Karen Wright: 00:15:32

You know, and so I think that when they do that they.

Karen Wright: 00:15:35

And when you share about yourself.

Karen Wright: 00:15:38

I share a lot about myself, a lot about my childhood, a lot about my own struggles, my own, you know, issues growing up and the things that I have been through in my life.

Karen Wright: 00:15:48

And when you do that, they want to know more.

Karen Wright: 00:15:52

And so, so I try to integrate some of those little stories into some of the things that I'm teaching.

Karen Wright: 00:15:57

And when I do, then they respond.

David Owen: 00:16:01

Switching gears just a little bit.

David Owen: 00:16:02

You have likely.

David Owen: 00:16:04

Well, I know you have dealt with tons of parents along the way, because you've dealt with tons of students.

David Owen: 00:16:09

So is there a particular angle or an insight that you could provide about what parents of successful students do differently?

Karen Wright: 00:16:25

I would say, first of all, we do deal with a lot of different parenting styles, but I think that the majority of parents just want what's best for their kids.

Karen Wright: 00:16:37

They really do.

Karen Wright: 00:16:38

There's a lot of struggles in our world.

Karen Wright: 00:16:40

There's a lot.

Karen Wright: 00:16:40

We never know what somebody is going through in their life.

Karen Wright: 00:16:44

So I think that that is very important to keep in mind when it comes to parenting and what's going on with kids and with their families.

Karen Wright: 00:16:53

But I would say it is about looking up, and I mean looking up from your devices.

Karen Wright: 00:17:01

Put those devices down.

David Owen: 00:17:04

Parents are the worst, aren't they?

Karen Wright: 00:17:05

Well, we.

Karen Wright: 00:17:07

I am calling myself out as well, because we are all addicted to those devices, whether it's for work or for pleasure or to disconnect or to connect.

Karen Wright: 00:17:19

But the kids are watching.

Karen Wright: 00:17:21

Our kids are always watching us.

Karen Wright: 00:17:23

They're modeling what we do.

Karen Wright: 00:17:25

So look up.

Karen Wright: 00:17:26

Put those devices down.

Karen Wright: 00:17:28

Talk to your kids every single chance you get.

Karen Wright: 00:17:32

Point out what things are what when they look at an object.

Karen Wright: 00:17:37

We see, I'm an ELA teacher, and we see with vocabulary that they don't know what things are.

Karen Wright: 00:17:42

Point out everything.

Karen Wright: 00:17:44

Play board games with your kids.

Karen Wright: 00:17:46

Problem solve with your kids.

Karen Wright: 00:17:48

I used to do, and I haven't done it in a few years, but I used to do a little program with my class called Old School Skills.

Karen Wright: 00:17:55

And it was a list of 50 skills that I had kind of generated from talking to friends and family and the Internet that kids were lacking.

Karen Wright: 00:18:06

And some of these things were big things like they can't change a tire.

Karen Wright: 00:18:11

Some of these things were letter writing or they don't know how to load a dishwasher or do the laundry or clean a bathroom.

Karen Wright: 00:18:19

So I made this list of, I'm.

David Owen: 00:18:21

Sorry, you're just hitting all the checkboxes for my family.

Karen Wright: 00:18:26

So I made this list and I gave it to the kids, and I said, I want you to pick things off this list that you want to learn.

Karen Wright: 00:18:33

And then I want you to find a mentor, whether it's a parent, a grandparent, a neighbor, an older sibling, someone who can teach you how to do these things.

Karen Wright: 00:18:41

And then I want you to find a way to share that with our class to show us that you've learned it, that you've become proficient at it.

Karen Wright: 00:18:49

And there were things on there like change a tire or lift the hood of the car.

Karen Wright: 00:18:54

And these are nine and ten year olds.

David Owen: 00:18:55

I was going to say fourth grade.

Karen Wright: 00:18:57

But here's the thing.

Karen Wright: 00:18:59

If you don't show them, if you don't start to point those things out to them, they don't even know to ask.

Karen Wright: 00:19:06

They don't even know to say, well, how do you do that?

Karen Wright: 00:19:10

So teaching them to mow the lawn, to weed a garden, to plant a garden, to sow, to iron.

Karen Wright: 00:19:17

I say if you, and this has been on the Internet, people have seen it before, but if you can figure out how to turn on and set up an Xbox, you can figure out the washing machine.

David Owen: 00:19:28

It's not as fun.

Karen Wright: 00:19:29

It's not as fun, but unless you.

David Owen: 00:19:30

Like Tetris, that would make sense.

Karen Wright: 00:19:34

But learning those life skills, I think connecting with your kids, using your car rides to and from practice, put the devices away and talk to each other, look out the window, point at things, discuss what happened at school or what's going on, I think those things need to come back as much as possible.

Karen Wright: 00:19:53

And I am as guilty as anybody of, you know, scrolling away sometimes.

Karen Wright: 00:19:58

But we really do try in our household.

Karen Wright: 00:20:00

And I know I only have one child, so it makes it a, you know, I come from a family, a blended family of eight, so there are a lot of us.

Karen Wright: 00:20:08

But putting those phones down and talking to each other and getting outside, playing the games, cooking, doing those things, and all of those things are learning.

Karen Wright: 00:20:18

So I think those are.

Karen Wright: 00:20:20

If I were going to give parents a leg up for success, I would say that is what you need to do.

David Owen: 00:20:25

Yeah.

David Owen: 00:20:26

And it's interesting because you're not, you're not talking about sitting at the table doing flashcards all day so they're proficient at math or doing sight words or things like that.

David Owen: 00:20:35

These are, these are life lesson things.

David Owen: 00:20:39

What impact do you think that is making on the rest of the learning process for your students?

David Owen: 00:20:46

Do you think that?

Karen Wright: 00:20:46

I think it's huge.

Karen Wright: 00:20:47

When they see that they can do those things, they know that they can do the rest of these.

Karen Wright: 00:20:51

They can do hard things.

Karen Wright: 00:20:53

Again, another one of those thick quotes that we hear like you can do hard things, but until we get them outside of the classroom doing hard things, you know, sometimes when they're in there, I can't do this.

Karen Wright: 00:21:05

I don't know how to do this.

Karen Wright: 00:21:06

Well, you don't know how to do it yet.

Karen Wright: 00:21:08

Another one, you know, you don't know how to do it yet.

Karen Wright: 00:21:10

But I think it just gives them confidence, it allows them to take academic risks because they feel like, oh, it's okay if I don't if I don't do this right the first time, I have a big key on my wall that says failure leads to success.

Karen Wright: 00:21:24

It goes along with eight keys that I kind of live by within my classroom and that I try to point out to them every single day.

Karen Wright: 00:21:34

Even though you may not have done well on this quiz, let's figure out what it is and let's go back and reteach and try again.

Karen Wright: 00:21:43

But learning is not a one time, one stop shop.

Karen Wright: 00:21:48

I always say when you.

Karen Wright: 00:21:49

You know those baseball players, I'm a big Braves fan.

Karen Wright: 00:21:51

Go Braves tonight.

Karen Wright: 00:21:52

Come on.

Karen Wright: 00:21:54

That when a baseball player gets to the plate, they don't hit a home run.

Karen Wright: 00:21:59

The first time.

Karen Wright: 00:21:59

The first time they step up to the plate, they have to pract over and over and over again.

Karen Wright: 00:22:04

And that's what it takes for anything that these kids want to learn.

David Owen: 00:22:08

That is incredible.

David Owen: 00:22:09

Now, I do have to ask this one very crucial question.

David Owen: 00:22:13

Is cursive on your list of 50 things?

Karen Wright: 00:22:15

It is.

David Owen: 00:22:16

Is it really?

Karen Wright: 00:22:17

Actually, my kids in my class right now know how to write in cursive.

David Owen: 00:22:21

How old are you?

Karen Wright: 00:22:22

We started that on the first day of school.

Karen Wright: 00:22:24

We started learning cursive, and they actually like.

Karen Wright: 00:22:28

Like that.

David Owen: 00:22:29

Yeah.

Karen Wright: 00:22:29

So, like, I think a lot of times we think that they don't want to do it.

Karen Wright: 00:22:33

They wanted to learn.

David Owen: 00:22:35

Well, now it's kind of like a secret code, right?

Karen Wright: 00:22:37

It is kind of secret code, yes.

Karen Wright: 00:22:39

It's on the list.

Karen Wright: 00:22:39

Cursive is on the list.

Karen Wright: 00:22:41

Letter writing is on the list.

Karen Wright: 00:22:43

There's so many.

Karen Wright: 00:22:44

There are so many things on that tie a tie.

David Owen: 00:22:47

Oh, that's huge.

David Owen: 00:22:48

Yeah.

Karen Wright: 00:22:48

And for some kids, it might be as simple as tying their shoes because some of them, you know, wear the Velcro and they don't know how to tie their shoes.

Karen Wright: 00:22:55

So some of those things that we take for granted, that, you know, we just know how to do it, some of those kids don't know how to do.

Karen Wright: 00:23:00

So when they've learned that, we celebrate.

Karen Wright: 00:23:02

If it's worth learning, it's worth celebrating.

Karen Wright: 00:23:04

So.

David Owen: 00:23:05

So would you be willing to share that list with our listeners?

Karen Wright: 00:23:10

Yeah, sure.

Karen Wright: 00:23:11

Okay.

David Owen: 00:23:12

All right.

David Owen: 00:23:12

We got that recorded.

David Owen: 00:23:15

She's committed.

David Owen: 00:23:16

So we'll put that on as a link in the show notes and our listeners can make use of that.

David Owen: 00:23:23

Spread the love.

Karen Wright: 00:23:24

Yes.

David Owen: 00:23:25

Well, Karen, thank you so much.

David Owen: 00:23:26

We are so proud of our teachers and to have you at the top of the list there for this year, that's awesome.

Karen Wright: 00:23:33

Thank you so much.

Karen Wright: 00:23:33

Thank you for having me.

Karen Wright: 00:23:34

This was a really unique experience.

Karen Wright: 00:23:37

My son was like, oh, that's really cool, Mom.

Karen Wright: 00:23:39

I can't believe you get to do a podcast.

Karen Wright: 00:23:41

I can't believe I got to do a podcast.

Karen Wright: 00:23:43

So thank you so much for having me.

David Owen: 00:23:44

Well, it is so fun to show off our best.

David Owen: 00:23:47

And if you found this podcast helpful, make sure you share it with a friend.

David Owen: 00:23:51

They might find it helpful too.

David Owen: 00:23:53

Also, don't forget you need to subscribe.

David Owen: 00:23:56

Give us a like that helps with the algorithms and spreading the love.

David Owen: 00:24:00

And don't forget to turn on notifications so you get the next podcast episode.

David Owen: 00:24:04

Thank you for listening to this edition of the Inside Scoop, a podcast produced by the Cobb County School District.