Author: communications

[Music]

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They wanted everyone to feel great about going to prom and cut costs in the process.

On this episode of the Supercast, hear from an inspiring group of students who belong to an organization at West Jordan High School called “Sources of Strength”. Find out how their incredible Self-Care Event made prom picture perfect and affordable for students, creating feel good moments and memories to last a lifetime.

[Music]

We are here at West Jordan High School with Robyn Briggs, the advisor for “Sources of Strength” and you're putting on a Self-Care Event tonight. The media is out, all kinds of students are out. Tell us about what's going on.

Robyn Briggs:
We're super excited that you're here. We're doing a “Sources of Strength” event and this event is all about bringing mental health awareness to the kids and helping them realize that their thoughts and opinions about themselves is important for their mental health. And so to give a little self-care to yourself goes a long way.

We've collaborated with a ton of volunteers from our community and they're all coming out to do manicures. We're making corsages and boutonnieres for these kids' prom dates, we have permanent jewelry, we have eyelash extensions.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. 

Robyn Briggs:
We've got haircutting. We've got so many things. Brow waxing. These kids are literally coming out of here a whole new person.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. 

Robyn Briggs:
I'm serious. 

Anthony Godfrey:
That's the total makeover. So is prom tomorrow night?

Robyn Briggs:
Prom is tomorrow night and all the kids signed up for appointments for this event. We've had over 45 volunteers come to perform services.

Anthony Godfrey:
45 volunteers and how many students signed up?

Robyn Briggs:
We're serving over 100 students today.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. That's fantastic. And tell me a little bit about “Sources of Strength”, the group that organized this.

Robyn Briggs:
So “Sources of Strength” is a suicide prevention program at our school. It's actually a class and I'm the advisor for that class. The students in the class are called our peer leaders. They're nominated by their peers as people that they can trust and go to when they're struggling. And so Sources of Strength is an upstream approach to suicide prevention. 

We focus on the good rather than the negative. So focusing on stories of strength rather than stories of trauma. We help students draw to their, like go to their strengths when they're going through a hard time rather than focusing on the trauma that they're going through. So looking around them and being like, "Oh wow, I have so many strengths around them. I have my family's support. I have my mental health. That's a really strong strength of mine. I have my physical health. I have all these things. I have mentors." All of those things are their strengths and we help them recognize their strengths so when they are going through a hard time they can turn to those strengths.

Anthony Godfrey:
And by organizing this event, these students are now being a source of strength for the broader West Jordan High School community.

Robyn Briggs:
Exactly. And not only that, but they're getting to know the peer leaders that are at the school who are putting these things on and they're realizing, "Oh, I can get to know these peer leaders and they will be my friend." And all the peer leaders are super welcoming, super loving, and they're just like pillars in our school who shine and are positive and willing to be literally anyone's friend.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's fantastic. Yeah. And I can see the great turnout here. There's a ton going on. Talk me through. Let's walk and talk through some things that are happening. 

Robyn Briggs:
Okay, sounds good. To our left right here we have our brow station. We have girls getting brow laminations, brow tints.

Anthony Godfrey:
What is a brow lamination? Putting your head through a laminating machine doesn’t seem like a good idea.

Robyn Briggs:
Okay, no, exactly. A brow lamination is when you take the hairs on your eyebrows and you laminate them up so it makes for a fuller-looking brow. And honestly, it's a huge trend right now and it's actually pretty expensive to get done. It's kind of a newer trend though. It makes your eyebrows look fuller, I guess. 

Anthony Godfrey:
I have not experienced this trend. 

Robyn Briggs:
Yeah, and there's also eyebrow tinting going on here. So if your eyebrows are naturally a little lighter than your hair color, they can tint it so that it matches the hair color on your face. 

Anthony Godfrey:
So you can emphasize the brow, change the color of the brow so it matches the hair. 

Robyn Briggs:
Exactly. 

Anthony Godfrey:
And it makes for a wonderful Prom. 

Robyn Briggs:
And then we've got like Skin Core over here doing waxing. They volunteered to do waxing eyebrows for us. They're doing men's, women's, all the things. Men need to get their eyebrows waxed too. Did you know that Dr. Godfrey? 

Anthony Godfrey:
I did know that. 

Robyn Briggs:
Okay, I'm just making sure. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Yes, they do. And so tell me, so we've got the waxing going on here and this is teeth whitening right here it looks like?

Robyn Briggs:
This is teeth whitening. Can you even believe it? We've got a teeth whitener came out and donated their time to do teeth whitening on these students. 

Anthony Godfrey:
That's amazing. 

Robyn Briggs:
Yeah, and you know, honestly, smiles are so important. They light up a face and when you're not confident about your smile, that ruins your self-image. It really does. And so if that's something we can do to help them so they feel a little bit more confident and feel like, “oh my gosh, I can smile and I can be happy.” All of those things. Isn't that what we're trying to do? 

Anthony Godfrey:
That's wonderful. Permanent jewelry. Talk to me about permanent jewelry. Now, I think my niece did this. So is it when you weld a kind of a link in a chain and now you've got a bracelet on permanently? 

Robyn Briggs:
Yes, exactly. I actually just got mine done. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, let's see. Lovely. Very nice.

Robyn Briggs:
And I'm matching with my student Aspen. Shout out to Aspen. She's doing permanent jewelry. She's taking, they get to choose their chain, their design and they get it welded onto them. It's not really permanent. You can cut it off at any point in time, but it's super fun. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Sure, what is permanent? But it’s as permanent as anything gets.
Robyn Briggs:
Yes, exactly. It's not quite as permanent as a tattoo though. Okay. So we're good. We're good on that. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Then, we've got the brows here and the eyelash extensions. Wow. 

Robyn Briggs:
Yes, we have eyelash extensions. Can you even believe that these women came out to donate their time? Eyelash extensions take up to two hours to do and you're literally gluing on individual eyelash hairs to like make your eyelashes fuller. Some of these girls might not have very full natural eyelashes. So it really does make a huge difference on their self-confidence. But we have, you can see, we have six stations doing eyelash extensions right here. Six girls that are going to have a full set of lashes for prom.

Anthony Godfrey:
It looks, it does look intense and complex. 

Robyn Briggs:
Right. 

Anthony Godfrey:
For those who are listening, there are tables set up everywhere. There's a ton of swag and it's just obvious there are lots of volunteers here helping everyone look their best and feel their best. That's the most important part. 

Robyn Briggs:
Isn't that the most important part? We've also got over here, we've got Dapper Delinquents, a barber shop here in the valley. They came out, they have six barbers here doing our men's haircut. We wanted to make sure that the boys felt included and knew that we understood that their self-image is really important to their mental health as well.

Anthony Godfrey:
They've got the clippers out. I don't want to get too close and distract them. They're putting a sharp line on the edge of these boys' hair and it looks really great.

All right Dom, so you're the president of “Sources of Strength”, right? 

Dom:
Yes sir. 

Anthony Godfrey:
And you are currently getting your haircut. 

Dom:
Yes sir. 

Anthony Godfrey:
And how's it feeling so far?

Dom:
It's pretty good. I'm happy with it.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about this event. How have you felt as this haircut comes to a close? 

Dom:
Honestly, it's been one of our best events and I'm happy with the way it's turned out. More people showed up than I thought and honestly, I think it's made a big impact. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Now that you have had this haircut, are you feeling at your best? 

Dom:
Yes sir. 

Anthony Godfrey:
You look your best. 

Dom:
Thank you. All thanks to my man right here. 

Anthony Godfrey:
And what's it been like helping out tonight with all these haircuts? 

Carlos:
It's been good, you know. Just coming out here seeing new people and getting new people to come into the shop, getting to check us out. We've only been around for like a year in the West Jordan area. 

Anthony Godfrey:
And tell me your name? 

Carlos:
Carlos. People know me as Los Cuts as well on Instagram and everything. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Los Cuts, okay. How did this event come together? Where did the idea come from? 

Dom:
So we wanted to find a way to help boost everybody's confidence or self-esteem. And one way we thought was, you know, one of the biggest dances was prom. So we thought, “hey, maybe if we run an event where people can come in and help fix up maybe if they need their nails done or and don't have the money for it, they can come in and people can donate their time and resources that could help out.” 

Anthony Godfrey:
It's a time when you want to be your best and your self-esteem is really important. So I think it's well-timed. I loved the idea from the moment I heard about it. That's why we wanted to come out. So thanks for being a source of strength for so many people tonight. 

Dom:
Of course. And thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us. When we come back more with “Sources of Strength.”

Break:
Hello, I'm Stacee Worthen, Secondary Counseling Specialist for Jordan School District. Do you know all the ways Jordan School District counselors can help you and your students? School counselors play such an important role in our schools. They provide parents with resources to help guide their children in academics. They provide support with the mental and social well-being of students in our schools. And if you are in the process of preparing a student for college, or just beginning the conversation of higher education, now is the perfect time to reach out to your child's counselor. We can assist with college applications and college readiness. I encourage parents and guardians to schedule an appointment and get to know your student's counselor. Together, counselors and parents can help develop plans and strategies for students to succeed long after they leave Jordan School District. Reach out! We're always here to help. You can find us and learn more at counseling.jordandistrict.org.

Anthony Godfrey:
Sahalee is a peer leader with “Sources of Strength” and you're also helping with the tinseling of hair tonight. 

Sahalee:
Yes, I am. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Tinsel is something that is for a Christmas tree–

Sahalee:
And for hair now.

Anthony Godfrey:
–from the 1900s for me. But I'm being brought into the 20th century. 

Sahalee:
Yes. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about tinseling hair.

Sahalee:
Well, you can tie it in. We're beading it in because it's a lot faster. So we're just doing like chunks and just putting it in. It's heat resistant. You can still curl your hair. Just–

Anthony Godfrey:
So can you curl it with your hair? And you said you're beading it in. How do you bead it in? How does that work? 

We have small beads that we're clamping in. Okay. So we're just like putting it in through these and we loop it and clamp it. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Oh, so there's a little tool. 

Sahalee:
Yes. There is.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wire on the end of the handle. 

Sahalee:
Yes. 

Anthony Godfrey:
You pull the hair through it looks like. 

Sahalee:
And then we have a clamp.

Anthony Godfrey:
And then use a bead. The bead is the clamp? 

Sahalee:
No, we use a bead and then we clamp it down. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. 

Sahalee:
And then it's in your hair. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh wow. Okay. And how permanent is the tinseling? 

Sahalee:
Honestly, it comes down to like how well you take care of it. So you can have, I've had it up to like a month, but some people get sick of it. You could just clamp it the opposite way and it'll fall off or you can pull it out. 

Anthony Godfrey:
And you were just tinseled. How does it feel?

Sahalee:
I guess cool. I mean, I can't really see it, but everybody's giving me compliments.

Anthony Godfrey:
It looks great.

Sahalee:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
I think it shimmers. It's wonderful. So yeah, well done. Oh, and look, there are different colors. I would have thought it would be–

Sahalee:
Lots of different colors. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. There's a whole array. What goes with my faded old hair? 

Sahalee:
I say bright pink. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Bright pink. I’d really make a statement. 

Sahalee:
Oh, 100%. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, it would have to be cut pretty short. Those are long strands of tinsel unless I wanted it to trail behind me. 

Sahalee:
I think that would be awesome. That's a look. 

Anthony Godfrey:
I guess it is a look. I could give a whole vibe. 

Sahalee:
You could give a vibe.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yes. Okay. Thank you. I've learned a great deal in just the last few minutes. 

Sahalee:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
What do we got next? 

Robyn Briggs:
My personal favorite thing that this event has, it has inclusivity for all different hair types and all different diverse students. We've got a whole section back here for girls with textured hair, our black Latino students, our Polynesian students, which West Jordan has a large population of those students. We've got braiding, cornrows and things like that. And then we also even have wig installations and girls can bring their wig and get educated on how to install their wig properly. I don't know very much about all the things that they have to deal with with their hair and self-care and all of that, but I do know that installing a wig is actually very difficult. And so educating the black girls on how to do that is really influential for their self-confidence. And so all of these women came to help out with that. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Those appointments filled up fast. Yep. They did.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now I'm still going back to the tinsel hair. I'm seeing the result of–

Robyn Briggs;
We've bamboozled him.

Anthony Godfrey:
–the tinsel hair there. I don't know if it could work for me, but I like the concept. 

Robyn Briggs:
I don't know, what about a little silver sparkle? 

Anthony Godfrey:
A little silver sparkle. 

Robyn Briggs:
You're what they would call a silver fox so let's just elevate that.

Anthony Godfrey:
It just doesn't sparkle. No, I think that looks great. That's really fun.

Robyn Briggs:
Oh my gosh, your hair looks so beautiful. 

Student:
And she's doing tinsel too. 

Robyn Briggs:
She's doing tinsel on your hair.

Student:
But it's a surprise. It's a surprise. I don't know what it looks like yet. 

Robyn Briggs:
So cute. Okay, we've got all of our nail tech over here. We had over 16 nail techs come out today to do all different types of nails on these girls. Isn't that amazing? 

Anthony Godfrey:
So then we've got the little light here. Is that right? It's a light.

Robyn Briggs:
Yes. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Does the light dry? 

Robyn Briggs:
It cures the paint. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. And there's a lot here I don't know. This is beyond my my world. 

Robyn Briggs;
I know. 

Anthony Godfrey:
I have sons all the way. 

Robyn Briggs:
But girls, we do know it. We know it. Yeah. And we even have somebody who's come in pre-made press-ons so that the girls can choose from a ton of different press-ons to put on. Her name is Yasmin and she's amazing. 

Anthony Godfrey:
And I see we have a boutonniere station here as well. Tell me about that. 

Robyn Briggs:
So we actually had all of these flowers donated by Ensign Floral. They donated enough corsages, enough flowers for 25 corsages and boutonnieres. So 50 total. And I'm pretty certain we're gonna have a lot extra because they were really generous. And so we're really appreciative of their donation. We have Maddie Sorenson, our agriculture teacher here, and she's educating and teaching all of these kids on how to create a corsage and a boutonniere for their date. So they're hand-making their corsages and boutonnieres. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. I see lots of glue and sprigs and ribbons and other materials. People working hard to put those together. All of them custom, hand made. 

Robyn Briggs:
And all of them are specific to the student's outfits, right? You want your corsage to match your dress. So we have a wide variety of flowers here. We have a wide variety of colors and ribbons so that their corsage can specifically match their dress. 

Anthony Godfrey:
This is super impressive. Obviously, “Sources of Strength” has an incredible focus on helping students get through the difficulties that they may be living through at home or at school. And tonight, lots of kids are going to have an incredible time at prom tomorrow. There's no doubt about that. 

Robyn Briggs:
There's no doubt about it for sure. And I'm super excited with how it all turned out. And we're grateful that you came out and you're here to support us. 

Anthony Godfrey:
I'm thrilled that I got to see SOS in action. You guys are awesome. Thank you so much. 

Robyn Briggs:
Thank you. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see you out there.

[Music]

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They are having fun singing their hearts out and really rocking it, taking the stage at Copper Canyon Elementary School.

On this episode of the Supercast, meet sixth grade students who make up the cast of Schoolhouse Rock Jr. and find out how their Beverly Taylor Sorensen teacher is helping them bring down the house during their performances of this energetic show.

We're here at Copper Canyon this morning with our BTS Theater Specialist and a few cast members for the production that is underway right now. Thank you very much for spending time with us. Introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about what's going on.

Sheri Harrington:
My name is Sheri Harrington and I am the Beverly Taylor Sorensen Learning Arts Specialist here at Copper Canyon Elementary. We feel very privileged and honored to have you here. We were surprised at it. So we are getting ready to perform this week the production of Schoolhouse Rock Live Jr. We've been practicing this since October. It is a musical based on– a lot of parents might remember when they were young on Saturday mornings– the Schoolhouse Rock cartoons. I'm just a bill, yes I'm only a bill.

Anthony Godfrey:
And I'm sitting here on Capitol Hill if I'm not mistaken.

Sheri Harrington:
Yes, see what you learned from it.

Anthony Godfrey:
I do remember, yes I did.

Sheri Harrington:
Conjunction, junction, what's your function? And so what I love about this musical,

Anthony Godfrey:
Picking up wood and freezes and clauses.

Sheri Harrington:
See, you remember that from how long ago?

Anthony Godfrey:
Did I get it right?

Sheri Harrington:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay.

Sheri Harrington:
And how long has it been since you have heard that song?

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, let's talk about that. It's been a very, very long time. Decades, many decades. Back in the 1900s girls when I was listening to that.

Sheri Harrington:
Way back in the 1900s.

Anthony Godfrey:
So what made you pick this particular production that stirs so many memories for me and for some others? Now our elementary parents are a little bit young to remember some of this, which is a jarring fact for me to embrace this early in the morning.

Sheri Harrington:
Yes, me too. Some of them remember them and are familiar with them. But of course a lot of them are a little young.

Anthony Godfrey:
Even the concept of Saturday morning cartoons where cartoons were contained to one part of one day of the week, as opposed to being continually available.

Sheri Harrington:
Right.

Anthony Godfrey:
Even that concept is a little bit foreign to most people at this point.

Sheri Harrington:
Right. Well, one reason I chose this musical was because it integrates theater with all of our core subjects. The musical covers social studies and math and science and language arts. So it's not just a singing, dancing, fun musical. It's a musical that teaches students about conjunctions. It teaches students about how it works as a bill on Capitol Hill.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now it is a singing, dancing, fun experience.

Sheri Harrington:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
But there is that side benefit of having some things burned into your brain.

Sheri Harrington:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
That are really essential and really important about government and grammar and everything in between.

Sheri Harrington:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
What is a favorite song of yours in this production?

Sheri Harrington:
My very favorite number is called "The Great American Melting Pot." And I actually get teary-eyed every time I watch it. I would get teary-eyed in front of the students as I was teaching them the song because it's a song that talks about – In fact, I have the lyrics right here. It talks about how America accepts immigrants and you simply melt right in. It doesn't matter what your skin. It doesn't matter where you're from or your religion. You jump right in. "The Great American Melting Pot."

And in this number, we have -- there's about 25 kids on stage and they're all holding a different flag, a big world flag from countries all over the world. And they sing this beautiful song. I've got one of the soloists here. Both are soloists. That's right. And so two at a time, they put their world flags in this big melting pot and they shake hands. And after all of the world flags are put into this melting pot, we pull out a big, giant American flag and wave the American flag with our hands over our hearts. It makes me teary-eyed talking about it right now. It's just, to me, that's so beautiful.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me, what are the experiences that you hope students get from being a part of this?

Sheri Harrington:
Well, you know, when we first decided to do a musical here, it's been at least 10 years since Copper Canyon Elementary has done a musical. And when we first -- my principal, Patty Bowen, asked if I would do a play, and it could have been a play. I chose a musical. I have a musical theater background and love singing and dancing.

At first it was going to be an audition basis with the sixth-grade students being able to audition for the show. And when I introduced the show to the sixth graders and asked how many of them were interested, at first there were very few because they're sixth graders. And especially the boys were like, "I'm not going to sing and dance. I don't want to -- you know? No, this is embarrassing."

So we decided that we were going to make it non-optional, the entire sixth grade. There was some resistance from some of the students who, you know, have never danced and don't sing. And to do something like this in front of people, you know, they were none too happy about it at the beginning. However, the more we've done it, the longer we've done it, they've really started to enjoy it.

I've had students who, at the beginning, said, "Can I just be on stage crew? Can I just be a tree?" And slowly, one at a time, they came forward and said, "Miss Sheri, can I sing the song? Can I say these lines? I would like to do it." And now the kids are fighting over, "No, I want to do it. I want to do it." I actually heard a comment the other day, some boys behind the curtain, and they literally said, "You know, I didn't want to do this at first, but it's actually really fun." And I was like, "Yes!"

Anthony Godfrey:
They thought the curtain was protecting them from being exposed to actually enjoying the singing and dancing. Well, that's great. What I love is that you're giving them experiences that they didn't really know they had in them, finding some abilities that they didn't realize were nestled deep within.

Sheri Harrington:
And most of them will probably not go on.

Anthony Godfrey:
Sure, it doesn't mean that they're going to be on Broadway.

Sheri Harrington:
Some of them might. I have some very talented young ladies here today. But, you know, whether this is the first and only musical they do, or whether this is one of many, I have witnessed these students become so much more confident over the last several months. All of them, actually, you know, just more confident in their abilities to perform in front of others, to speak in front of others.

We work on projection a lot. I don't let the students depend on microphones, even though we do have microphones to assist their voice. I really think it's important for students to learn how to project their voice and talk loud enough for whatever audience they're talking in front of. So we've worked on that, and students who have, you know, a naturally quiet voice have learned how to speak louder. And I think that right there is a very important skill to learn in life.

Anthony Godfrey:
Absolutely. It's an unforgettable experience with some skills that will carry them for a long time.

Up next, sixth-grade students in the cast of Schoolhouse Rock Junior talk about their roles and how much fun they are having performing this musical.

Break:
Hello, I'm Sandy Riesgraf, Director of Communications for Jordan School District, and we want to invite you to connect with us. So many exciting things are happening in your child's school, your neighbor's school, in every school here, every day. Don't miss out on following the fun or simply staying informed when there's important information we need to share. Join us at jordandistrict.org, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @jordandistrict. We can't wait to connect.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, let's talk with some of the stars of Schoolhouse Rock Junior Live. Introduce yourself and tell us what grade you're in.

Nadia:
I'm Nadia, and I'm in sixth grade.

Emma:
I'm Emma, and I'm in sixth grade.

Brynli:
I'm Brynli, and I'm in sixth grade.

Rory:
I'm Rory, and I'm in sixth grade.

Anthony Godfrey:
You were all giving sixth-grade vibes. I just have to be sure, you know. So tell me, what has it been like being in this performance for you?

Nadia:
It's been really fun, actually. I love to do my song, to dance. Like, performing is fun. Yeah, it's just been really fun.

Emma:
I also would say it's been really fun and kind of like an amazing adventure to go on. Because when I started sixth grade, I was like, this is mostly going to be like the hardest year of elementary school. And then we started the play, and it felt like it was just so much fun.

Brynli:
I also think it was fun. So, at the very start, I guess, I wanted to be in it, but like not actually sing or dance. But then, when the whole sixth grade is doing it, I still got cast as a singer. So, I guess, the more that I sang, the fun it was.

Sheri Harrington:
She's amazing. They're all amazing. I can't believe, I had no idea the talent of some of these students. I'm so proud of them.

Rory:
I think it was a lot of fun and exciting to be on such an exciting play, and getting to dance and have fun with other of my friends. And it was just a lot of fun being with them.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about your favorite part of your performance. What do you do in the production, and what's your favorite part?

Rory:
I like being with my friends and being able to have a fun time learning them and performing them after. One of my favorite songs is "Interjections” or “Nouns." And they're both the very first or last song, but they're really fun to do.

Anthony Godfrey:
Interjection. Yes.

Students sing:
Or emotion. They're generally set apart from a sentence by an exclamation point, or by comma when the feeling’s not as strong.

Anthony Godfrey:
Once you start, you can't stop. It feels good. That's awesome. How about for you? What's your favorite?

Brynli:
My favorite song is "Interjections," because I have a microphone on that one.

Sheri Harrington:
She's a soloist.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, great. How about for you?

Emma:
My favorite song probably has to be “Nouns”, because I feel like it's kind of a really fun number. And it gets you to know the teacher and all of the ideas that go along inside her mind. And also because I sing it, and I think it's really fun.

Nadia:
Oh, my bad.

Anthony Godfrey:
Go ahead.

Nadia:
My favorite songs are "Interjections" and "Unpack Your Adjectives," because I sing in that one. And "Interjections," I just love the emotions and the dance moves. It's just really like high energy.

Anthony Godfrey:
And introduce yourself and tell us what your favorite song is to perform.

Sheri Harrington:
Oh, hi, Nephi.

Nephi:
Hi. My name is Nephi Vilifiti, and my favorite song for the play is "Three is the Magic Number."

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, yes, “Three is a Magic Number.” I remember that now. You guys are stirring things way back in the cobwebs. That's pretty awesome. What do you like about that song?

Nephi:
I'm the father, and I have to pick up Elone.

Sheri Harrington:
We have about 95 students in the show, and so most of them have done the practicing and the rehearsal during their theater rotation times. However, the soloists come very early in the morning, and they're here by 7.50. So – school starts at 8.35?

Students:
8.55.

Sheri Harrington:
8.55. So, you know, they're here almost an hour early. And Nephi shows up every day very early just to say, you know, "Ms. Sheri, what can I do to help you get ready for rehearsal this morning?" So I've just been impressed with the dedication and the hard work from these students. They really have worked hard.

Rory plays the part of the teacher. There are ten musical numbers in this show with some dialogue in between each number, and Rory literally is on stage from the beginning to the end. She dances every musical number and sings every number, and she doesn't stop. She doesn't get a break.

Rory:
Well, I don't do “American Melting Pot”, I just sit on the stage.

Sheri Harrington:
Yeah, I gave her a break. But you're there.

Anthony Godfrey:
So are there particular teachers that you've known over the years that you're kind of channeling and using as inspiration when you try to play a teacher?

Rory:
Well, my mom's a dance teacher at Copper Hills.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, okay. Awesome.

Rory:
Yeah, so I know, and that's where I got my costume. She brought some of the things home from school because she has a lot of costumes that she doesn't use. So we've got a lot of things that we don't need.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's awesome. What is it like being in a production in sixth grade like this?

Nadia:
At first, it was kind of like embarrassing because I don't really like to perform in front of other people. But I mean, when I got cast to the role to sing, I just decided, like, okay, I'm going to sing so I can't be nervous anymore. And during this, I've gotten more confidence. So I think I might join some more plays or musicals over time.

Anthony Godfrey:
Great.

Emma:
Well, it's kind of like Nadia said. I got a lot more confident with this because I don't know. It just helps me feel like I can perform on stage without being nervous.

Nephi:
Very embarrassing because, like, whenever I got put to be the dad for “Three is the Magic Number”, I felt really nervous because, like, “Oh, what if I drop Elone? What if he doesn't run into me?” Or like, “Oh, what if I just let him go or something?” And that, like, made me scared because there's, like, more than 400 people that's coming and, like, I can't mess up. So then I practiced with my little brother. So it's easier now.

Sheri Harrington:
What Nephi is talking about is in this number, he plays a dad and one of the other sixth-grade boys plays a baby. And so at the end of this number, the sixth-grade boy, this other one, Elone, runs and jumps in Nephi's arms. So Nephi has to catch him. And so he was worried about dropping him. But he's doing a great job. I cast him as a dad because I knew he was very strong and he could do it.

Anthony Godfrey:
All right. Stand up. Give me kind of a dad stance. Show me how you -- wow. That is good dad energy right there. That's really good. You guys, you all, all five of you have some real poise and the confidence really comes through just as I'm sitting here talking with you. So those 400 people are in for a treat. This is really exciting. I'm thrilled for you guys that you get the opportunity to learn from Miss Sheri and you're getting such great skills and experiences from it. So thank you for letting me talk with you about this. This is really exciting. And I know these performances are going to be awesome. Is there a song that you all sing that we could hear a little snippet of?

Student:
We're all in “Nouns.”

Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now, if I recall, a noun is a person, place or thing if I'm not mistaken, right? All right. Let's hear it.

Sheri Harrington:
All right. Emma, take it away.

Students singing:
A noun's a person you can know
or any place that you can go
or anything that you can show.
You know they're nouns.

A noun's a special kind of word.
It's any name you've ever heard
I find it quite interesting.
A noun's a person, place or thing.

Oh, I took a train, took a train to another state.
Choo choo.
The flora and fauna I saw were really great.
We saw some bandits chasing the train,
I was wishing I was back home again.
I took a train, took a train to another state.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, that brings back a lot of memories. That sounds fantastic. I don't know why taking a train, taking a train to another state brings back memories like it does. But, wow, I am right back in Terre Haute, Indiana, sitting in front of the TV watching Saturday morning cartoons. You guys are going to transport people, you're going to teach people, and they're going to have a blast. And you, I know, are going to have a blast as well performing. So thank you for letting me sit and talk with you about this and have a great time.

Sheri Harrington:
Thank you for coming and talking to us. We feel very honored and privileged and we appreciate your time.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thank you very much.

Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you will do today. We'll see you out there.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello, and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They are becoming some of the best young bucket drummers around with a beat all their own.

On this episode of the Supercast, meet members of the Percussion Club at Mountain Point Elementary School and find out how they are making music from around the world come alive with a bunch of 5-gallon plastic buckets flipped upside down and turned into drums.

We're at Mountain Point Elementary School early this morning to talk about the Percussion Club. Introduce yourselves, tell me about your connection to the Percussion Club, and then we'll talk to students.

Angie Garrido:
Hi, my name is Angie Garrido. I started this club here at Mountain Point Elementary three years ago, so I'm just excited to be here with you this morning.

Mrs. Hammer:
Hi, my name is Mrs. Hammer. I am the fourth-grade teacher here at Mountain Point, and I've been helping Maestro Garrido for two years now.

Anthony Godfrey:
Maestro Garrido, you used to teach here, and now you are a DLI coordinator at the district. Tell me about that position.

Maestra Garrido:
Yeah, so I arrived to Jordan School District three years ago. I was offered a position as a first-grade Spanish teacher to start the program here at Mountain Point, and now I am helping the DLI teachers in the district and in the state to just to be better DLI teachers.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's fantastic. We love that you're here and that you now are playing this new role and that you have continued with the Percussion Club. Tell me what made you want to start the Percussion Club. My son has played percussion since seventh grade and he absolutely loves it, so I know the appeal, but tell me why you wanted to do this here.

Maestra Garrido:
So everything started in 2018. I was in another school district, and I attended BYU Arts Express, which is an event that teaches art instruction. I attended a session with a lady and she was doing percussion, but not with buckets like we do, but with bowls like those huge yoga bowls, and I was like, I want to do this. I didn't know if we had the money, so I did a little bit of research and I found this bucket drumming thing and I was like, “oh, we can afford this.”

Anthony Godfrey:
There’s a bucket drumming community, I guess.

Maestra Garrido:
Yes, yes. So I presented the plan to my principal back then and he loved the idea, so yeah, that's how it started. So our first performance was in 2019, so this is the sixth year of that.

Anthony Godfrey:
So a whole set of students has come through doing this. Tell me about your involvement, Mrs. Hammer.

Mrs. Hammer:
Well, the first year that we had percussion here at Mountain Point, I was just on the sidelines and I was watching and I just really enjoyed the upbeat music and the things that Maestra Garrido has even put together. And so I just decided, “hey, can I help out?” It was at the end of the first year that she had finished and I'm like, “can I help out next year, please?” And so she's like, “absolutely.”

So I did it last year and you just get into the movement and the beat of the music. And so I just wanted to continue it.  You see the smile and the enthusiasm that she gives, and I give, and then the kids all bring together and the performance when we do it at the end of the year is just amazing.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about the level of participation from students. Has that changed over the last six years that we've been doing it here?

Mrs. Hammer:
It really has. I think that the first year we had probably like 50 students and now we have what, 90?

Maestra Garrido:
Yeah, we have around 90 students from kindergarten to sixth grade this year.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, so it's all ages that get to come and do it. And how frequently do they come? What does the schedule look like?

Maestra Garrido:
We practice once a week for 30 minutes. So they have to come before school at 8.15 and then we practice until 8.45 until it's time to go to school.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's fantastic. Tell me about the music selections. How do you decide what to play? I know there's a wide range of musical influences that you bring in to this activity.

Maestra Garrido:
So basically what I do is I select a theme for the year and then I choose the music and plan what the students are going to be playing. I look for inspiration everywhere once I have a theme in my head. And then for example, the inspiration I look for is everywhere. Last year I performed, because I am a dancer, I performed in a fall dance festival. So one of the songs that we're doing this year is from France and France was one of the countries participating in the festival. So one of the things we're doing this year is influenced by that show that I saw last summer.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh wow.

Maestra Garrido:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you pick up influences everywhere you go.

Maestra Garrido:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
And you're a dancer as well?

Maestra Garrido:
I am a dancer and I am a singer.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about your time as a dancer and singer.

Maestra Garrido:
So I started dancing classic ballet when I was four and then also did Polynesian dances. And then when I was in high school, I started dancing Mexican folklore dances. So that's what I'm still doing right now. I'm part of a group, a local group.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. Your talents are wide-ranging and all involve rhythm. Tell me about your singing.

Maestra Garrido:
So I've been singing since I remember. My mom's family they all sing. So our family parties are karaoke nights basically. So I've been singing all my life basically.

Anthony Godfrey:
Do you have a go-to karaoke song or do you have all kinds of karaoke songs?

Maestra Garrido:
I like different music styles, but now I am focusing more on Mexican songs, which is like my country, my roots.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Tell me your favorite Mexican karaoke song though.

Maestra Garrido:
Well, I've been recording like lately, like this week, "Acá Entre Nos" which is a very popular song in Mexico. I just recorded "Bésame Mucho" which is a very well-known song.

Anthony Godfrey:
I know "Bésame Mucho" yes. I do know that one.

Maestra Garrido:
Yeah. And yeah, there's a variety of songs that I have been practicing lately.

Anthony Godfrey:
What was the first one?

Maestra Garrido:
"Acá Entre Nos"

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. I'm going to have you help me find that on Spotify.

Maestra Garrido:
Okay. I will.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. All right. My go-to, in case you were wondering, is either "Totally Eclipse of the Heart" or "Johnny B. Goode". So I think you and I need to be on the stage at the same time. I think we could really bring it.

Maestra Garrido:
Let's plan on it.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. All right. So you sing, you dance and you do percussion in the morning. What do you hope that students get out of this experience?

Maestra Garrido:
One of the things that I like the most about this club is that they get to have fun because I mean they have buckets, they have drumsticks and they just enjoy. But obviously like I am expecting them to work on their timing, their rhythm. This activity is also like very stress relieving. So it's just a fun activity to do after school. And I think like I personally feel so happy after it and I am hoping the students are feeling happy too.

Anthony Godfrey:
I can witness in my own family the stress release that occurs when you bang on something. My son plays – when he plays the drums in a certain way I can tell, all right, he is stressed out and he is relieving that stress through the drums. What impact have you seen on students as they have participated?

Mrs. Hammer:
Well, the great thing about Percussion Club is that you don't have to have that musical talent. You just need to know like the beat and everything. So even if you are not in choir or orchestra or even band you can still do it. And like this year we had started our kindergarteners and they are following along. You know and that's a big key for children in elementary school is just to follow directions. So having that inspiration for them that they can grow that musical talent that they may have deep down inside.

Anthony Godfrey:
I would guess there is a real sense of unity also that comes from playing together with a group of 90 students of varying ages because students aren't always interacting sixth grade and kindergarten and the lower grades. But you have everyone together, probably some siblings, and they all feel a part of something.

Mrs. Hammer:
Absolutely.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us. When we come back the Percussion Club performs and we have a fantastic front-row seat.

Break:
Hello, I'm Sandy Riesgraf, Director of Communications for Jordan School District, and we want to invite you to connect with us. So many exciting things are happening in your child's school, your neighbor's school, in every school here, every day. Don't miss out on following the fun or simply staying informed when there's important information we need to share. Join us at jordandistrict.org, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @jordandistrict. We can't wait to connect.

Anthony Godfrey:
Let's talk to some students about what it's been like to be a part of this. Introduce yourself, tell us your name and tell us what grade you're in.

Hallie:
Okay, I'm Hallie and I'm in third grade.

Elsie:
I'm Elsie and I'm in third grade.

Mason:
I'm Mason and I'm in fifth grade.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, tell me about how long you've been participating in the Percussion Club in the mornings. Hallie:
I've been participating for three years.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow.

Elsie:
Three years too.

Mason:
This is my second year.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you two third graders, you've been doing this half your life really, pretty much. So you already have a long career in percussion. What brings you back early in the morning? Why do you keep coming back? What do you love about this?

Hallie:
I love that we get to learn new songs and that we get to learn new rhythms and stuff like that.

Elsie:
I like that we get to inspire new songs like other songs that inspire other people.

Mason:
I like that we can get to be with our friends and have fun and even though if it's hard or anything we can still do it.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now you do have to come early but I would imagine that it gives you a lot of energy to get to play the drums and bang out some percussion early in the morning. Now you all talked about how much fun it is to be with friends in the morning. Did you make some friends in Percussion Club that you didn't have before?

Mason:
I think I've talked to some but yeah.

Elsie:
Yeah, I have been friends with some people in Percussion.

Hallie:
Yeah, I've made friends in Percussion Club.

Anthony Godfrey:
Even if they walk to the beat of a different drum you guys have been able to connect with them. I like idiomatic expressions. Okay, so I have not been able to attend a performance yet but tell me about the reaction from parents and the expression on their faces when they get to see the result of all this work throughout the year.

Maestro Garrido:
Yeah so we have a performance for parents and we have one performance for students. So parents are just like so excited seeing their kids drumming even if they don't have a background in music as we have mentioned. So it's just exciting. One of the moms from last year she was like "Ms. Garrido, she's an angel" because she has like all the students with drumsticks and making noise and she has just the patience to tolerate that. And obviously for me it was just fun because I really enjoy having all the students playing and even if it's noisy at some point it's an organized noise if we can call it like that.

Anthony Godfrey:
And it's a joyous noise.

Maestra Garrido:
It is. Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
How about for you?

Mrs. Hammer:
Well, I am also a parent here at the school for my daughter that is in Percussion Club so it's nice to be together. But having an outside parent, so my husband, just witness all these students come together and play the music together in unison is like a standing ovation. I think we've had that and we've had probably if we could sell out we've sold out. Like it's packed every time.

Anthony Godfrey:
The arena is filled every time. I love it. That's awesome.

Maestra Garrido:
And one of the things is that we do this in a very short time like this year we have 19 practices planned for the season and we only practice 30 minutes a day and then we send a video home so that they can practice at home and so basically like they really learn these rhythms and the way we have to play very very fast. So it's impressive.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thank you so much for going to all this extra effort and making this incredible opportunity available for students. It's really fantastic.

Maestra Garrido:
Yeah, thank you for your time and for having us this morning. We are so honored to be here and be part of your podcast.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thank you very much.

Mrs. Hammer:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now let's head into practice and let's hear you bang on those buckets.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you will do today. We'll see you out there.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They are challenging young minds and making amazing light bulb moments happen on a regular basis at Daybreak Elementary School.

On this episode of the Supercast, find out how teachers are blending Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math with a mix of the Arts, turning it into a full day of fun and learning that is sparking student curiosity and developing strong thinking skills.

We're here at Daybreak Elementary to talk about their STEAM activity today. Introduce yourselves and tell us what's going on.

Leslie Ewell:
Great. I'm Leslie Ewell. I'm the principal here at Daybreak Elementary and with me is Amanda Williams. She's my instructional coach. We started this last year in the spring. It's a STEAM Explorer. We got the idea from an elementary school in St. George, Diamond Valley. They are a STEAM school and they do these rounds too. So I went down and visited and saw what they were doing and just loved it so much. So then I worked to create it here at our school. And so what happens is every teacher creates a four-week unit with 40-minute lessons on anything in the STEAM acronym, which is science, technology, engineering, art, or math or they can combine all of those things in that unit. They are required to have the engineering process in that unit, so to follow that. And they can choose anything they want. The teachers can choose anything they want to do within those boundaries. And then we create some slide shows. The kids see the slide shows and they pick their top three choices. And then we place our kids in one of their top three choices.

Anthony Godfrey:
So each teacher has designed one and the students get to choose which one they want to be a part of.

Leslie Ewell:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Ok, great.

Leslie Ewell:
Yeah, and so we do our best to get them in one of their top three choices. We usually are pretty successful at that.

Amanda Williams:
We've never not gotten them into one of their top three choices.

Anthony Godfrey:
I’d say that’s pretty successful.

Amanda Williams:
I think that’s pretty successful.

Leslie Ewell:
Then they go on Fridays, every Friday from 9:30 to 10:15. They go to one of those classes and they get to participate. There's lots of fun, fun things going on. We have a teacher right now that's doing basketball using Newton's theory of physics. So they spent time talking about that and then they're putting those skills into practice. So you can see that today. We have our wonderful counselor that has been doing dinosaur digging and talking about dinosaurs and that paleontology.

Amanda Williams:
And he even brings in-- He has a lot of family history, which is really cool. A lot of these projects are passion projects from the teachers. So something that they're interested in that they can bring their passion and engagement with the students. So he has family land and has all these fossils and petrified wood, so he brings that in and he lets all of the kids see it. He has dinosaur teeth. It's just really amazing to see not only the students engaged in the lessons and exploring and participating in this hands on learning  but also that the teachers, when you walk in, you'll just see their faces glowing because it's so much fun for them as well.

Anthony Godfrey:
It sounds like a very, very deep, meaningful level of learning. So if anyone wonders whether Fridays are really worth it, Fridays are worth it. A lot's going on here at Daybreak. We have three students here now at Daybreak. So tell me your name and your grade and what you've liked about this.

Jane:
I'm Jane. I'm in fourth grade and I've liked doing our art thing. I'm in Kertamus's class. She's doing pointillism and needle and thread thing. I forgot what it was called. It's really fun and I just love doing it.

Caleb:
My name is Caleb and I am in third grade Miss Adams class. I love the Stop Motion Studio because it's just so fun to do it.

Anthony Godfrey:
Have you made a movie yourself?

Caleb:
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Anthony Godfrey;
What did you use? What was the movie about?

Caleb:
We're like, it's like the old 90s and we're like, there's two kids who are bull riders and two kids that are bulls. I'm a bull and one of my other friends are bulls.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, so you're actually acting in this film?

Caleb:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh wow. So you move a little bit.

Caleb:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Is it hard to stay still?

Caleb:
If you keep your momentum a notch. It's not if you keep your momentum but if you don't it's just so hard not to fall off.

Anthony Godfrey:
Does the movie have a name?

Caleb:
It's like a bull rider, bull riders that crash into each other and fall and the bulls just start fighting.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh wow. I'm looking forward to seeing this. It's not in 3D is it? I think that might be a little scary.

Caleb:
No, no.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about your experience.

Luke:
So my name's Luke and for this class I've been taking a coding class because I want to figure out how to code video games and I've been learning a lot from the teacher.

Anthony Godfrey:
And what have you learned by coding?

Luke:
I learned the basic blocks of what you connect and how to make a character move and how to add a character.

Anthony Godfrey:
Does it make you look at video games differently that you play?

Luke:
Yeah. It makes me look at them way differently.

Anthony Godfrey:
Is that something that you'd like to do?

Luke:
Maybe, but I don't know if I'd be able to make the most complex ones but I'd be able to make some simpler ones.

Anthony Godfrey:
One day maybe. What are the video games that you like to play?

Luke:
I like to play Minecraft and Fortnite.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, great. All right. We've got pointillism, we've got filmmaking and we've got computer programming coding. I think that's fantastic. Shall we talk with your counselor here and let's see what he's up to?

Isaac Broadbent:
Hello, hello.

Anthony Godfrey:
Introduce yourself and talk about this activity.

Isaac Broadbent:
Yeah, so I am Mr. Isaac Broadbent. I am one of the counselors here at Daybreak Elementary and I am in charge of the Dino Dig STEAM lesson. And so I chose a dinosaur-themed topic to do for my STEAM.

Anthony Godfrey:
You don't wear Jurassic Park gear every day to school.

Isaac Broadbent:
Unfortunately not.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hat and shirt.

Isaac Broadbent:
Yeah, I got my hat and my shirt, the whole outfit.

Anthony Godfrey:
A Jeep outside with a wrap around it.

Isaac Broadbent:
Oh man, you know what? That is actually next on the list.

Anthony Godrey:
That's next level. So talk to me about this activity. What do you have set up?

Isaac Broadbent:
Oh, right. So today is our fourth lesson. Right. So this is the last lesson and this is kind of like the pinnacle part that the students have been working towards. So we've already discussed, you know, the basic anatomy of dinosaurs, herbivores, carnivores, omnivores. And then we've progressed into fossils and different types of fossils and how we can find those in the process that has to take place in order to have an animal remain fossilized. And now we've gone over how sediment plays a role in that process. We've been able to create our own little dinosaur fossils in that sediment encased for the students to dig up today. And so they've been waiting for this moment today.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's exciting.

Isaac Broadbent:
And they can actually, you know, have some hands-on experience with digging and chiseling away at a fossil that they've created themselves.

Anthony Godfrey:
You have a huge drop cloth laid down in the media center. Normally when there's a drop cloth laid down, there's going to be something fun happening.

Isaac Broadbent:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
And it looks like the fossils are in the red solo cups over here. Is that right?

Isaac Broadbent:
Yep. Yeah. So over here.

Anthony Godfrey:
With some names. So which whose fossil should I dig up for them? I’m just kidding.

Isaac Broadbent:
So I've got Nathan right here if you want.

Anthony Godfrey:
All right. Sorry, Nathan. I really want to do this. No, this looks great. It actually looks more like a root beer float in there.

Isaac Broadbent:
It does. Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
What you're saying is that they have fossilized something showing how the sediment can harden and then they're going to cut into that and chip away and preserve that fossil hopefully. So what did they put in as the fossil?

Isaac Broadbent:
So I was able to get some little dinosaur toy skeletons and they were able to kind of pick and choose their favorite dinosaur skeleton and what they wanted to dig up. And then I helped them mix up the sediment. We placed the skeleton inside that sediment, let it harden. And then today I'll be cutting away the cup and we'll have that big block of quote unquote rock for them to chisel away.

Anthony Godfrey:
This is a big day.

Isaac Broadbent:
Yeah. Oh, it's a huge day. They've been asking when we're going to be getting to it for well, ever since we began. So this is the big event.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love it. This is really exciting. And hopefully, we can swing back by while some of those fossils are being revealed.

Isaac Broadbent:
Oh, please do because that is going to be where all the energy and excitement is occurring.

Anthony Godfrey:
OK, fantastic. Thanks for providing such an awesome activity for these students.

Isaac Broadbent:
Of course. It's a blast. I love it.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us. When we come back, students will show us some of their projects at Daybreak Elementary.

Break:
Hello, I'm Sandy Riesgraf, Director of Communications for Jordan School District, and we want to invite you to connect with us. So many exciting things are happening in your child's school, your neighbor's school, in every school here, every day. Don't miss out on following the fun or simply staying informed when there's important information we need to share. Join us at jordandistrict.org, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @jordandistrict. We can't wait to connect.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're upstairs now. Tell me about some of the options, Amanda, that we're going to drop in on.

Amanda Williams:
OK, so right here we have our kids that are doing criminal investigation. So when they entered, there was crime scene tape all on the doors the first day and they came in and were told they're now detectives. Their first case was the case of the missing sandwich. But now they've learned about, you know, the missing sandwich.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's important. Absolutely.

Amanda Williams:
But they learned about motive and intentions and how to collect evidence and how to use evidence to support their claims. So now today, they're looking at fingerprinting and how a fingerprint can give them a very clear sense of who is at the scene of the crime.

Anthony Godfrey:
These are their stories.

Amanda Williams:
These are their stories.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, I love it. This is awesome.

Amanda Williams:
So this group right here, they're joined by their new chess challenges. So they have different levels of chess, beginning, middle, obviously more advanced and they are doing different tournaments. So you'll see that there will be kids in the pod playing chess. There'll be kids in the classroom playing chess and they're just at different level tournaments. But this has been continuing on, so kids have continued to go back to it so they can further extend their learning and become better chess masters.

Anthony Godfrey:
How's it going here, guys? Who's winning?

Student:
We’re basically like tied.

Anthony Godfrey:
You’re basically tied.

Student:
He has one more point than me.

Anthony Godfrey:
OK.

Amanda Williams:
I heard there was a checkmate. So this one is a very serious battle because there was a checkmate already and now it's going on the second time. So they won't even talk.

Teacher:
Soon they're going to take each other's games. So like five more minutes, they'll switch boards. So he'll have to play his game.

Anthony Godfrey:
OK.

Teacher:
So whoever's losing, they're going to switch boards.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, wow. So you need to understand each other's game really well. I love that. I've heard many times that losing in chess is how you learn in chess.

Teacher:
Oh, yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
They didn't just tell me that because I was losing?
Tell me your name.

Carson:
I'm Carson Bardsley. This isn’t my real hair.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I didn't think you had gray hair yet. So this is a Daniel Boone kind of Davy Crockett hat with gray hair underneath it. And this is part of part of the video you're making, right? What other costumes do you have?

Carson:
Well, several wigs.

Anthony Godfrey:
Show me.

All right. Caleb, show me what you've got going on here. Can I watch the movie? (movie starts to play)

So you guys are doing the motion yourselves climbing on. This is so cool. Oh, wow. That was great. Oh, now this is animated with a drawing of an ambulance. He's driving along. Who's this? That's Max. OK. Max is a good driver. Oh, wow. He's dragging the patient along the wall. Marla Adams. OK. I can't stop laughing. This is so cool. I love this video. That is awesome.

Caleb:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's just like you described it, Caleb. What did you guys like about making this video?

Student:
Just making people laugh.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. Well, you did that today. I thought it was so cool.

Students:
We did this over an extended period of time.

Like last time we just we did that all last time, right?

No, we didn't do it all last time.

We added some sounds this time. We added the clapping sounds.

Anthony Godfrey:
Is it kind of fun working with kids from different grades and different classes?

Students:
Yeah.

Everybody has different ideas. That's just a great way to go together.

There's third graders like–

But they'll get that yellow. Get that yellow on.

That's just a scene of yours.

Anthony Godfrey”
What's that?

Student:
Can you interview ours?

Anthony Godfrey:
Sure.

Student:
Yes!

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, this looks fantastic, guys. You've worked really hard on it and I loved it. This stop motion makes it look like an old time movie.

Student:
Oh, wait, wait, wait.

Anthony Godfrey:
You have a production company.

Students:
Yeah. Stickman Productions.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stickman Productions. Very cool. Well, you guys have done a great job of this. Thanks for sharing it with me.

Amanda Williams:
Dax wants to show you one that he worked on.

Anthony Godfrey:
All right. Let's see yours.

Student:
My project is stop motion where you have to move it very slightly so it can get -you know how like Coraline and Nightmare Before Christmas.

Anthony Godfrey:
Right.

Student:
Those are stop motion and they are actually those take a long, long time.

Anthony Godfrey:
And what was the film that you made?

Student:
So basically it was just we made like a bunch of, you know, people. So we made them fight. It's kind of like a lot of fighting scenes and--

Anthony Godfrey:
Did you use action figures or real people?

Student:
Action figures.

Anthony Godfrey:
OK. And what were some of the action figures that fought each other?

Student:
The action figures. So the one is from Naruto and then there is another one from Naruto. We used a bunch of other different action figures. So Naruto, Naruto, Dragon Ball Z, Spider-Man and another Naruto.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's a combination that copyright wouldn't allow for outside of school. So you made a film that could not be made anywhere else.

Student:
Yep. And it was pretty hard to make because we have to move it very slightly and it just will fall at certain times. And it's really frustrating because we finally get that position we want and we can't really like do anything to make it like, you know. So that is hard.

Anthony Godfrey:
Was it worth the work though?

Student:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
Sounds like a blast.

Student:
It was really fun. And we could only do it one day for three weeks.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, one day a week for three weeks. So you kept looking forward to that day.

Student:
Yeah.

Student:
Well, thank you very much.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thank you. OK, let's check out your pointillism.

Jane:
So here I have a SpongeBob house. I have the pineapple with a little door. I filled in all of the sea, the background, but I haven't filled in the foreground of the sand.

Anthony Godfrey:
This is the pineapple he lives in under the sea.

Jane:
So I have SpongeBob right there. I have two seashells. I have Patrick floating around.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, Patrick. And what are these? Are these bubbles over here? Wow. That looks fantastic. So this is about, oh, three inches, two inches by two inches. Oh, it kind of has a shimmer to it what-

Jane:
Yeah, I've used my glitter pens since I didn't finish it when we were doing this project. I've used my own pens.

Anthony Godfrey:
If you ask me, there isn't a dot out of place. I think it looks fantastic. So are you going to fill in the rest of this with some orange and yellow on the pineapple?

Jane:
Mm hmm.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. I love it. It just looks really, really good. How long have you been working on this for three weeks now?

Jane:
Yeah, three or four weeks.

Anthony Godfrey:
Do you think you'll finish it today?

Jane:
Maybe.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. Wow. It looks fantastic. I love it. Well, Jane, where's this going when you finish it?

Jane:
Probably to my house. I'll hang it up in my room.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, you should for sure. Be sure that you take good care of it. That looks really, really good. And Patrick seems happy up there.

Okay. Let's check out the coding you've been doing. Let's just sit at this table and see what you've got. So this is a Pong game that you created?

Luke:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Is that what it looks like?

Luke:
Yeah, so you just take the green flag and then you just have to keep the ball going.

Anthony Godfrey;
Okay. That looks great. I love how the game looks three dimensional.

Luke:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
You know, I played the original Pong on my old TV. I still have it.

Luke:
That's cool.

Anthony Godfrey:
So let's see. But you created this game.

Luke:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you move it back and forth using the mouse pad?

Luke:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
And then does it increase in difficulty as it goes along or is this just the first stage?

Luke:
This is just the first stage.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now I can see on the left all the building blocks. So these are all the components that you put together to design the game.

Luke:
This is all just for the ball. So this is the code that I had to upload on the ball and then on the paddle. And I just do this so that it follows the mouse. And then on the line, if it touches the ball, then everything stops.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you've programmed it so that if the ball touches the line, then it stops and so the game's over. And that's the red line at the bottom of the screen there. That is so cool. I'm so impressed you were able to put that together.

Luke:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's awesome. Good job.

Luke:
Thanks.

Anthony Godfrey:
What would you say to teachers or principals who are listening to this thinking about trying the same thing?

Leslie Ewell:
Well, first I'd say is come see.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

Leslie Ewell:
Come and see it. And second, I would say it's a process and you have to be pretty clear about your expectations and just make sure that teachers understand why we want kids to be able to have this kind of choice, and and then just start. I mean, that's the biggest thing. It took me a while to actually start because I was so nervous about how it would go.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

Leslie Ewell:
And once we started, it's been the energy in school at the energy on these days is so it's just so fun. They talk about it all day long in the lunchroom.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love that that's happening. Well, I can't thank you enough for diving in and trying this new thing and really transforming the whole school by doing this activity on Fridays. I saw so much energy and and excitement from the students and from the teachers everywhere I went. So thank you.

Leslie Ewell:
Well, thanks for coming in and seeing.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see you out there.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. It is an English 2010 class that is music to the ears of the students taking the course.

On this episode of the Supercast, we visit West Jordan High School, where Ben Jorgensen is teaching students to be passionate about music and is making students look at songs in a much more meaningful way. From the Beatles and beyond, join us as we find out why students say their teacher is rocking his lessons on music culture and helping them understand the meaning behind some of the greatest songs of all time.

We're here at West Jordan High School in Mr. Jorgensen's class to talk about the Beatles and music and culture and all kinds of things. Mr. Jorgensen, thank you for inviting us here. We're here with a few of your students as well. Tell us a little bit about this course and this is the culmination of a particular unit. So tell us about what's led you to today.

Ben Jorgensen:
Okay, so I've been teaching at Salt Lake Community College for about 12 years. I've been teaching concurrent enrollment for about six years. When they started letting me teach English 2010, I talked to some other teachers about what they were doing with it because I knew the curriculum was about rhetoric. A lot of them did some really creative things with it. Basically, the idea is that you get to explore rhetoric in its different forms. So I put together several units and because I'm kind of a music fanatic, I developed this rhetoric of music unit. We also have a rhetoric of service unit where they do service projects. We also do have a rhetoric of public speaking where they give TED talks. But this is where we start, and this is the longest unit. So I've kind of developed it and tweaked it over the years. I've just gotten a lot of great satisfaction out of it and students seem to enjoy it for the most part. They learn a lot about kind of the history of music, how it developed, and we focus mostly on modern music from like the 1950s on.

One of the main things that we do is I have a list of albums, impactful albums over the past 60 years. I have five albums from the 60s, five from the 70s, 80s, 90s, etc. Each student has to take one of those albums and do a rhetorical analysis research essay where they research the music, the artist, and the historical impact of that album. Big albums like Michael Jackson's Thriller, any of the Beatles albums, we do Joshua Tree from U2 and we get into even more modern stuff. I think in the 2010s there's an album by a band called Lord Huron on Strange Trails which is also one of my favorites. So yeah, that's kind of where it's gone.

Anthony Godfrey:
Boy, that's fantastic. In this moment I wish I could go back in time and take your class as a high school student. What are some of the changes that you see in students through this music unit in particular? What are some of the discoveries that they've made over the years?

Ben Jorgensen:
Well, they realize how much music does impact culture and their own lives. We look at lyrics and meaning and message. We talk about just sound and tone and how music makes us feel. We do visual rhetorics. We look at a list of music videos and we kind of comment on how the visuals affect how we understand the song or the message of the music. This symposium that we do at the end, I'm always slightly worried that it's going to go well and then I'm always completely relieved that it went really, really well. It's an academic intellectual conversation about the Beatles and that's a pretty fun topic to have.

Anthony Godfrey:
Having the chance to sit in here and watch kind of a fishbowl discussion where you have people out in the crowd watching the six and then they can tap each other on the shoulder, step in, take their place, and join the discussion. It was really hard for me not to jump in and share my opinion because it was so it was such a great environment. It's obvious that you've created this really productive dynamic in your class where people have meaningful conversation with each other, draw each other's opinions out, react in a way that it provides a really deep rich learning. So that was really fun to watch and hard not to be a part of.

So let's turn to you students. Tell me a little bit about, first of all, the unit before we get to the Beatles. How has this changed your view of music and its impact?

Abby Phillips:
I'm Abby Phillips and I say that music is one of the most important things in my life because I'm a dancer. So every day I'm listening to music and I'm expressing myself through movement to music. So it's actually been really cool to be able to apply school to my interests. And so I just think it's really interesting. It's been one of my favorite units I've ever studied in school because I actually care about it. It's just really fun to be able to learn about something that you don't really get to learn about in school.

Ashton:
Yeah, my name is Ashton and I think it's great to have a class all about you in music. My family, my mom's side is from the west coast and my dad's side is from out east and so I grew up listening to any type of music you can imagine. It's always been such a huge part of my life to listen and learn about music. This class specifically about rhetoric, it's very interesting to think of music as a tool to persuade rather than just a song. So it's definitely changed my mindset in that I'm more looking into the ways that artists can persuade an audience to listen and can push their message forward. It's very interesting.

Arlen:
My name is Arlen and honestly this class has been extremely thought-provoking. I like how you dove into your background with music in terms of your father's side and your mother's side because my family is very rooted in Mexico. My stepdad's even Mexican, my mom and my dad are Mexican and then all the way up to my grandparents. So at home, it was a lot of songs that were in Spanish and if it wasn't songs that were in Spanish, it was my older brother playing rap music. So when I was young I grew up listening to a bunch of rap music, some songs in Spanish but it never really appealed to me. So taking this class really– it opened my eyes. I never really dove into the past, I didn't listen to any slower music, I always liked my music fast with not the best lyrical content but you know definitely something.

Jorgensen just opened up my mind to the past. There's a couple of artists that already stuck with me. I know I had to pick the song “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman for one of my projects and I listened to that song on repeat. Now I get in my car I'm like shoot I don't have a fast car but I've got a car.

I mean, in terms of rhetoric and music I think it's honestly phenomenal. I did a speech just recently in this class about Bob Marley and his effect on music. To do that speech I went to go watch the movie on Bob Marley. So I've been thinking ever since that movie and being introduced to the Beatles, I've been thinking how they appeal to the audience and how the message isn't separated from the music. Actually, Bob Marley says that in the movie, but I think it's just amazing to connect both of those into one. Especially because now I feel like a lot of the rap music that I listened to and a lot of the music I listen to now is very disconnected from the message they want to push. So being able to listen to some of the older music where the Beatles are pushing love and positivity and other people are talking about their own personal trauma and past, I think it's really been amazing to just kind of reflect on myself and reflect on how it affected others at that time to honestly become a better person through the music.

Anthony Godfrey:
So Bob Marley is in particular one that has caught hold of you through this unit.

Arlen:
Oh yeah, most definitely. And you know I just want to point out now that I have the mic I think it's kind of hilarious that Mr. Jorgensen came in the Beatles shirt. I've never seen him in anything other than a suit and tie so I think it's pretty funny.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I do like when Bob Marley tells me “every little thing's going to be all right. Don't worry about a thing.” It works. What are some of the artists that the two of you have discovered through this music unit?

Abby:
Well, I have grown up listening to the Beatles. My grandfather's a big fan of them but I think that it really just opened me up to like listening to them in a way I never have before. Like I've never dove into their music and they're singing about the time that they're in and how impactful their messages actually are. And we're gonna learn about like who they are and how they came together and how they fell apart. It's just like the more you know about the artists the more meaningful the music actually is to you. So I think that's been really interesting to actually learn about the Beatles. Not just their music but who they were and how they impacted others. So that's really cool.

Ashton:
I think I have a story that kind of contrasts pretty crazily with I think a lot of people in this class in that I've been listening to music from the 60s and the 70s my whole life and so I know a lot about these bands. This class has kind of pushed me to listen to more modern music. I guess it's not super modern, but I'm talking to talking to Jorgensen all the time he's gotten me to listen to bands like Crowded House and U2 a lot more. I've heard of them but I've never actually took the time to listen to them. I love Crowded House. I think it's a great great band and I'm glad that I got to experience that through this class.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love hearing how it's this class has expanded your listening taste but also impacted your lives in the way that you view the world. It's nice that you get to stream music. I was telling my son last night just how if I listened to music they had to decide to play it on the radio or I had to actually buy it. And when you invested in music you really gave it a deep listen. I think this class gives you that experience as well that you give things a deep listen.

Stay with us. When we come back, more with Mr. Jorgensen's class.

Break:
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Anthony Godfrey:
I really want to dive into the Beatles now so I'm going to ask all the Beatles questions. First of all, your favorite song. Tell me your favorite Beatles song and that's a tough one to pick.

Abby:
I think it's “Yesterday.” That song, it just every time I listen to it, it makes me emotional because it's just so beautiful and I love the message. It's just so well composed that it just brings out all my emotions. There's actually a movie called “Yesterday” it's about if the Beatles didn't exist. I think that like I can't even imagine not knowing that music because it's just it's all so beautiful. And so “Yesterday” is definitely my favorite.

Ashton:
Yeah, my favorite Beatles song is probably going to be “Don't Let Me Down”. I think that it's– I think obviously it's a beautiful song but I think more in retrospect, it kind of serves as a great wrapping up point for the Beatles. It's kind of on the Let It Be album but not really. It's like on the Master Edition and on the Blue album and so it like kind of wraps up the Beatles in a very nice way. It's a very beautiful song, has a very powerful message and it's pretty positive.

Arlen:
In terms of my favorite Beatles song, it'd probably be “Girl” by them or even “I Want to Hold Your Hand”. I do like “Don't Let Me Down” a lot but I'm really big on how the music sounds itself. So that's why I've loved this class actually because it's made me dive into the lyrical content of music more because I've always just been on how it sounds in my ears when I'm not really listening to the lyrics and just how the beat sounds and how it flows. So that's one of the reasons I like “Girl” so much actually. I love the the way it sounds but even diving into the lyrical content like I can't say I 100 percent relate to it. I won't say that but I do like some of the lines they say. I think it's a little bit funny. Some of them do relate to me so that would have to be my favorite song “Girl” by the Beatles.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me who is your favorite Beatle? Do you have a favorite Beatle?

Arlen:
I feel like I don't have the traditional favorite Beatle. A lot of people would probably say John Lennon or Paul McCartney. My favorite Beatle is actually Ringo Starr. I love the way he looks. I loved watching some of the the rooftop concert for Apple Studios was it? I loved watching that concert and kind of just seeing Ringo Starr kind of really just beat along to the music and nod his head. I feel like just the way he carries himself makes me laugh and I just it feels friendly.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, it feels friendly. I love that description. Nobody's having a better time than Ringo. Ringo is just there “Hey, I'm so good I'm just gonna fill in all the gaps and do it in a way nobody else could.” So yeah I love that.

Ashton:
I'd probably say George. It's like I think John and Paul, they started as geniuses and it's like everyone knew that they were talented. George was kind of the underdog and he took the time and developed his musical talent and he really blossomed into a I think a wonderful musician. So definitely George Harrison.

Abby:
Well, it's actually funny that Arlen said Ringo because I wrote down in my notes that Ringo doesn't get enough credits for being on the Beatles. This is something that Jorgensen has discussed. Like their music wouldn't be anything without Ringo keeping that beat. And I actually do like how he just jams. And the rooftop concert, their last song they ever performed was "Don't Let Me Down". It that was a really cool video watching them just kind of-- it was just like a farewell. And yeah, Ringo looked really cool in that he was just jamming. He– I don't know he kept the music going and he's the reason that they have their beat and their flow and so yeah, he makes the songs iconic and recognizable because of that that those drums you know.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me, do you think that you are going to consume pop culture in a different way now because of this course?

Abby:
I think that definitely this course has given me like the idea that music is not just for the enjoyment of listening but for telling stories and getting messages out. You don't see that as much in modern music I think. I think that music was a lot more meaningful like the Vietnam War and people putting out messages. Like everything was a lot more meaningful and so I feel like I don't know, I try and listen with more intent and try and find a message from what I'm listening to instead of just jamming because it has meaning.

Ashton:
I think that Abby put it pretty perfectly. This course has definitely made me think about music nowadays and pop culture that I'm actively alive for and involved in in a more intellectual and like a more meaningful way. This class has definitely made me put more of an emphasis on learning my surroundings and trying to understand the people that are around me.

Arlen:
You know I love the way both Ashton and Abby put that, and they put it absolutely phenomenally. I actually wanted to say pop culture is more of a lifestyle nowadays than it is just a part of the culture. Every single thing you do now is a part of the pop culture. Every show you watch, every song you listen to, all the clothes you wear, is just all part of the pop culture. And the culture here in America and the lifestyle. Honestly, I do feel like I'm gonna ingest it differently now that I have taken this course and I know a little bit more about the music. But I really hope, and this this is like a far-fledged hope, like I'm really just throwing a bullet on a football field, but I really hope we can even revert a little bit back towards the times where music held a deeper message. A lot of the music now is– it's very personal, don't get me wrong, there's definitely a message there, but the music from the Beatles era was very– it was music for a country. It wasn't music for a specific group or a specific community it was music for America. And I mean, of course they took the world by storm by writing for the masses, but I really hope now and I mean maybe I'll pick up a Mic so that I can start doing what I'm dreaming of. But I really hope now that the music can spread more worldwide instead of being contained to individual areas like it has been.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, I love all those comments and all of them show that this is going to have a lasting impact on you, the study that you've done in Mr. Jorgensen's class. But I think you're right, and this was discussed earlier in class, that the culture is more fragmented. Partially because there are more options, but just also because of other culture and political forces. It used to feel good that everybody knew a certain set of songs and we all had that in common and I love what you said about that. Any parting thoughts?

Arlen:
I mean the Beatles are definitely– I honestly, I'm gonna just say the Beatles is the best band to ever grace the planet of the earth. The Beatles are amazing. I said this earlier as a joke like what was it listening to the albums for the first time but I want to just put my experience out there. It was honestly like giving my heart a thump. It's like having a chocolate bar. It's like I'm gonna just take another bite and another one and another one and by the end of it, like it's better than a chocolate bar because you don't even feel bad. You're just like ‘that was great I loved listening to that’. I just keep on going so I just want to say the Beatles are the best band to ever be made. Amazing. I love the class thank you so much for having me Jorgensen.

Ashton:
Yeah, the Beatles are definitely the best. I remember the very first time that I listened to Sgt. Pepper from the beginning to the end, no breaks. It's such a crazy experience. It's not– you're totally captured and that's not just Sgt. Pepper, it's every album. But Sgt. Pepper is just I think a culmination of greatness, and so them as a band they're just wonderful.

Abby:
I think that everyone no matter your age needs to listen to the Beatles because like Arlen said, they're the greatest band of all time. They changed the face of rock and roll. They changed like what you would normally think rock and roll is. They totally rearranged it and gave people a different idea of what it was. They pushed boundaries and they made really impactful music. So everyone everywhere needs to listen to the Beatles, no matter what.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, any parting Beatles thought?

Ben Jorgensen:
Just it's been fun. It's a fun unit. I've received so much good feedback from my students and from others about this unit I feel like it is impactful. It is an academic pursuit to be able to look at something and break it down intellectually. Look at lyrical content messages everything like that. It certainly relates to rhetoric, persuasion, impact and I'm just grateful I get to do it it's fun.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's fantastic it's so it's so fun to be part of it today thank you very much for your time and happy listening.

Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you will need today. We'll see you out there.