Supercast

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. She is living her dream, working as a special education teacher at South Jordan Middle School, making a difference in the lives of students every day. But Lauryn Macedone saw another dream come true not too long ago when she was a contestant on the wildly popular show, “The Voice”, selected to be a part of Alicia Keys' team. On this episode of the Supercast, we meet this superstar teacher and musician who has a heart of gold and a voice that turned heads around the nation and turned the chairs of judges on “The Voice”.

We're here with Lauryn Macedone, a teacher at South Jordan Middle School, talking to her about her experience on “The Voice”. Thanks for taking a few minutes with us.

Lauryn Macedone:
Thank you so much for having me. I'm grateful to be here.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me a little bit about your teaching career, first of all.

Lauryn Macedone:
Okay. Yeah. So I actually just started in January, just finished my student teaching at Copper Hills High School, and then this is my first job, so I'm really excited to be here. I'm in special education here at South Jordan Middle School. I'm in the autism classroom specifically, so an autism support classroom. I have seven students and get to help them meet their individual needs and get to help them in their education, so it's awesome.

Anthony Godfrey:
That’s fantastic. I love a good mid-year hire. <Laugh>. Tell me what made you want to be a special education teacher?

Lauryn Macedone:
Oh, that's such a good question. I've known it since eighth grade. I took a peer tutoring class when I was in middle school, had an awesome teacher, met incredible individuals with disabilities who just inspired me. And I knew from then on that I wanted to help them and I wanted to be on their side, and I wanted to be their cheerleader to help them reach their goals and dreams that they have in life.

Anthony Godfrey:
That is a great peer tutor success story, and there are a lot of those out there. It's such a great experience for kids to get to know someone who might be a little bit different from them or from their friends. And I think it changes you permanently when you have that experience.

Lauryn Macedone:
Totally. We're so grateful for all of our peer tutors here. Like we have such a good peer tutoring program and are so grateful for all the students that take a class period out of their day to come and help others and learn from them as well. It’s awesome.

Anthony Godfrey:
And I love to see your enthusiasm and excitement for your new role here at South Jordan Middle.

Lauryn Macedone:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
It is kind of hard to come in the middle of the year and jump in, but it sounds like it's gone really well for you.

Lauryn Macedone:
It has. This school is so supportive, the admin so supportive. I have a ton of awesome aides in my classroom that are super helpful and it just made the transition really smooth.

Anthony Godfrey:
Good. That makes a big difference. We've struggled to hire classroom assistants throughout the district. and it makes all the difference when you have that kind of support.

Lauryn Macedone:
Yes. We're very lucky here. We have amazing aides, so it's awesome.

Anthony Godfrey:
And tell me about your student teaching experience. You were at Copper Hills, another great school.

Lauryn Macedone:
Yes. I loved my student teaching. I was with an awesome mentor teacher, Jacque Sheppick. She taught me so much, was an incredible example. I was in a life skills class over there with 14 students with differing abilities and was able to teach them everything from math to restaurant skills. And it was awesome. We taught everything in between and it was super fun.

Anthony Godfrey:
She does an awesome job. She and her students were on the Supercast a couple of weeks ago as well. It's a great program everywhere you look in every school. It's exciting and it's an inclusive way of providing a great education for students of all abilities.

Lauryn Macedone:
Yeah. Yeah. That's something that I've loved the most about being in Jordan School District, is that I feel like there is so much inclusion in every school that I've been in during my education. I did a practicum placement here, did my student teaching here, and now I'm a teacher here. And every school that I went to was so inclusive and that just runs through all the schools and it's really, really amazing to see.

Anthony Godfrey:
We work hard at that. So it's great to hear that from you.

Lauryn Macedone:
It's great.

Anthony Godfrey:
Let's talk about your career with “The Voice” as well. So how long ago were you on “The Voice”?

Lauryn Macedone:
So it was about six years ago. I was 16 and 17 years old throughout the whole process. I was a junior in high school. And actually kind of coincidentally my blind audition aired six years ago today.

Anthony Godfrey:
Really? Wow.

Lauryn Macedone:
So today was the day <laugh> six years ago. I was so excited that my friends would be able to see my blind audition and they would finally know why I was missing so much school, <laugh> and all of the things.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you couldn't really tell people that you were even trying out or involved or anything like that?

Lauryn Macedone:
No, no. I couldn't tell them until about a month before. And so I just told people that I had a music opportunity and missed a lot of school, but it was super great and it was a great experience.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now let's go back a step. Tell me what got you interested in singing and your singing career up until then.

Lauryn Macedone:
Yeah. I have been singing ever since I could talk if you ask any of my family members. I would give them shows all the time. <Laugh> Whenever there was a fireplace, that was my stage, I was standing on it. I was singing loud and proud for everyone to hear. I would watch like Disney movies and sing along with the princesses and all the things. And so I've been performing ever since I can remember. I went to a performing arts preschool when I was younger.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, wow.

Lauryn Macedone:
And I did plays there too. It's just in my blood. I knew I loved to sing and love to perform.

Anthony Godfrey:
Is there a type of song that you like to sing in particular?

Lauryn Macedone:
It's changed over the years. I started a lot with musical theater and then I kind of jumped. I wanted to be a country singer and now I feel like I finally found myself as an artist. And I love like singer-songwriter style music. I am really inspired by like the sixties, the seventies artists, like Carole King, Joni Mitchell, stuff like that.

Anthony Godfrey:
There is some great singer-songwriter stuff available during that era.

Lauryn Macedone:
Oh yes.

Anthony Godfrey:

And they probably told you I'm a huge music fan. I go to a lot of concerts and live music is a big deal for me. So it's exciting to talk with you and to hear about this experience now.

Lauryn Macedone:
That's fun.

Anthony Godfrey:
Was "The Voice" your particular focus or were there other shows that you considered or tried out for as well?

Lauryn Macedone:
Yeah, that's a great question. I always had people telling me growing up, like, oh, you should audition for “The Voice” or “American Idol”. And I always had it in the back of my mind as something that I wanted to do. But I actually did a voice competition in Provo and they sent my video to “The Voice” and “The Voice” actually reached out to me to come and participate in their audition process.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you did a voice audition in Provo?

Lauryn Macedone:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
But it was an audition for the show specifically, or was it for something else?

Lauryn Macedone:
It was something else.

Anthony Godfrey:
What was that for?

Lauryn Macedone:
It was just a little voice competition in Provo that my parents and I were like, let's just go do it. Sounds like fun. You can go just compete, meet other local artists. So I just went and it was more like a networking opportunity and they were awesome and sent my video to “The Voice” and the rest is history. Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. Now people tell you you should try out for “The Voice” and for me they say you should try out for the trivia shows <laugh>, where you can name that song, name that tune, name the artist. It's the Shazam show.

Lauryn Macedone:
You should! You should. There you go.

Anthony Godfrey:
So I can't perform it. I just listen to people like you who can perform it. So the audition, you didn't even know you were auditioning for “The Voice”?

Lauryn Macedone:
Not really. Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me what it feels like when "The Voice" contacts you and you weren't even expecting it.

Lauryn Macedone:
It was crazy. I can remember that moment like it was yesterday. I remember it was after a dance class and I was with my cousin and a friend and we were at Bahama Bucks getting some shaved ice. We were just enjoying our time. And I opened up my email and I saw an email from “The Voice”, and I think I, like, I read it at least 10 times <laugh>, just to make sure that it was real, that I was reading it correctly. I called my mom crying. I was like, I don't know what's happening right now. But it was surreal. It was crazy, but it was really cool. So I had to go through a pretty lengthy audition process. There were lots of auditions before you see the blind audition on tv, but just went through that whole process, kept getting through and it was super amazing and super humbling. I didn't expect it at all.

Anthony Godfrey:
Did they ask you to come up with what song you wanted to sing? And did you have to vary that song at each stage of the audition?

Lauryn Macedone:
Yeah. It was different. Some auditions, they asked for four songs, some auditions, they asked for two songs. Some they picked my song, some I got to pick. But the original video that was sent to “The Voice” I sang Girls Just Want To Have Fun, kind of my own rendition of it. And that song stuck with me the whole time. I sang it at every single one of my auditions. And then that was a song that I sang for my blind audition too. So it was kind of my good luck charm.

Anthony Godfrey:
What a great choice. What a great choice.

Lauryn Macedone:
It was great. It was awesome.

Anthony Godfrey:
How many songs did you end up singing for them? Not including the one that you sent in or that they sent in on your behalf? How many songs did you sing before you ended up in the blind audition? Or how many times did you sing a song?

Lauryn Macedone:
Yeah, I think it was four times if I'm remembering correctly.

Anthony Godfrey:
And is this for like producers or people behind the scenes? People with clipboards leaning close as you sing?

Lauryn Macedone:
<Laugh> Yep. In a dark room, ambient lighting, like yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Really?

Lauryn Macedone:
Yeah. Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:

Okay, so it's kind of how like I pictured it.

Lauryn Macedone:
Yep. <Laugh>.

Anthony Godfrey:
And did you think, well, I'm pretty lucky to get this far, so I'll just give it a shot? Or were you feeling the pressure?

Lauryn Macedone:
Both, both. I saw so many talented people around me. Everyone that auditioned, I was like, whoa, they're so good. I was so intimidated. I was very intimidated. But I just, I was lucky. My parents were there with me throughout the whole experience and they just said, you're amazing, like, keep going. They were really my big cheerleaders and even when I felt like I wasn't good enough to be there, they helped me to realize that they saw something in me and so I should just keep going. And it was very humbling and I learned a lot from the experience of just to push through and to keep going and to believe in myself too.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us. When we come back, Lauren Macedone sings for us.

Break:
Are you looking for a job right now? Looking to work in a fun and supportive environment with great pay and a rewarding career? Jordan School District is hiring. We're currently filling full and part-time positions. You can work and make a difference in young lives and education as a classroom assistant or a substitute teacher. Apply to work in one of our school cafeterias where our lunch staff serves up big smiles with great food every day. We're also looking to hire custodians and bus drivers. In Jordan School District we like to say people come for the job and enjoy the adventure. Apply today at employment.jordandistrict.org

Anthony Godfrey:

Describe for those who may not watch "The Voice" what's the structure of the show and how does it work?

Lauryn Macedone:
Yeah. So there are about four rounds that are prerecorded and that go on before they go to live shows. So there's a blind audition where you get to perform for four of the judges.

Anthony Godfrey:
And the judges are famous musicians.

Lauryn Macedone:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
Who are then trying to pick someone who wins the competition. And the prize for the competition is a recording contract.

Lauryn Macedone:
Yep.

Anthony Godfrey:
Cash.

Lauryn Macedone:
Yep.

Anthony Godfrey:
Probably the home version, the board game version of "The Voice".

Lauryn Macedone:
Yep. There you go.

Anthony Godfrey:
But along the way, their chairs are turned away from you.

Lauryn Macedone:
Yes. Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
So describe that part of it.

Lauryn Macedone:
Yeah. So they're turned the opposite way so they can't see you. All they can do is hear you. There's no preconceived judgments or notions that come. They just listen to you sing. And if they like what they hear, they turn around, they push a button and turn around and then they fight to have you on their team if you get more than one to turn around. So that's, it was pretty cool. That was the blind audition.

Anthony Godfrey:
And tell me which musicians were there that you got to be judged by and interact with.

Lauryn Macedone:
Yeah. Yeah. So my season, I was on Season 12 and Blake Shelton, Gwen Stefani, Alicia Keys, and Adam Levine were the judges.

Anthony Godfrey:
That is awesome.

Lauryn Macedone:
It was pretty cool.

Anthony Godfrey:
That is really cool.

Lauryn Macedone:
It was really surreal.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, that's a pretty cool lineup of musicians to be judging you.

Lauryn Macedone:
It was awesome.

Anthony Godfrey:
Also, like you said, it would strike fear in my heart to do anything in front of them.

Lauryn Macedone:
Oh yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Most people would have a tough time talking in front of those four. Just meeting them or chatting with them, much less performing for them. And knowing it was gonna be televised.

Lauryn Macedone:
Totally.

Anthony Godfrey:
Their chairs are turned around and they get to hit the button and turn around and see you once they choose you.

Lauryn Macedone:
Yep.

Anthony Godfrey:
And tell me who chose you.

Lauryn Macedone:
So Alicia Keys, Gwen Stefani, and Blake Shelton all turned around for me while I was singing.

Anthony Godfrey:
That is Insane. That is cool. That is so cool to have three out of four.

Lauryn Macedone:
Yeah, it was, it was surreal.

Anthony Godfrey:
Who was the first?

Lauryn Macedone:
It was Gwen and then shortly after it was Alicia and then it was Blake. So they all kind of hit it like the same moment. It was pretty quick.

Anthony Godfrey:
That is so cool. And then they talk with you afterwards a little bit?

Lauryn Macedone:
Yes. Yes. And I don't remember anything that was said, <laugh>. I don't remember any of it. <Laugh>. I just was like you were saying it was hard to talk, let alone sing and I was just standing there smiling and nodding. Couldn't tell you what they said. I was just in shock. I was like, I want to phone a friend, like where's my mom? Can I go talk to her really fast? This is a big decision that I'm about to make. It was crazy.

Anthony Godfrey:
That is so exciting. And so they have all chosen you, now you get to choose which team you want to be part of.

Lauryn Macedone:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
And did you choose Team Gwen?

Lauryn Macedone:
I chose Team Alicia actually.

Anthony Godfrey:
Team Alicia? Interesting.

Lauryn Macedone:
Yes, I chose Alicia Keys.

Anthony Godfrey:
Even though Gwen chose you first you went with Alicia?

Lauryn Macedone:
Yes. Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay.

Lauryn Macedone:
And I just had this, I just loved Alicia Keys. I thought she was very genuine and very kind and that was so true. She was like a mother to all of us on her team. She was very nurturing and just so genuine and authentic. She was amazing.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's incredible. Yeah. So tell me what happened with the competition after that point.

Lauryn Macedone:
Yeah, so there's a lot more rounds. I made it to the second round, so the battle round where you're paired up with someone from your team and you sing the same song that your judge picks for you. So Alicia chose a song that me and a teammate sang against each other, and you battle for the winner. And my teammate, she was amazing, and so she won that battle and then I went home after that. But it was, it was incredible.

Anthony Godfrey:
That is a huge win. Yes. Getting to go, getting to compete, and having them turn around and push the button three out of four. That is a huge victory.

Lauryn Macedone:
It was.

Anthony Godfrey:
I think that's really exciting.

Lauryn Macedone:
It was so cool. And I think a little bit inside I was so sad, but I was a little grateful cuz I had already missed a lot of school and I couldn't teach myself Trig any longer. I needed to go and be taught by my teachers.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yes. Understandably.

Lauryn Macedone:
Yes. So I was grateful, but it was so awesome.

Anthony Godfrey:
Can we take a look at some of the photos and video of your time on there?

Lauryn Macedone:
For sure. This is just a fun one that I took that I could post on social media <Laugh> that said Team Alicia.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's cool.

Lauryn Macedone:
Once I was finally able to make the announcement, I put that out there. This is during the blind audition during my video when Alicia hit her buzzer, but it also hit over a million views on YouTube. So I screenshotted this moment as like a…

Anthony Godfrey:
That you had a million views logged.

Lauryn Macedone:
Yep.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's insane.

Lauryn Macedone:
It was super cool.

Anthony Godfrey:
You look like you were really in the moment. You are fully there.

Lauryn Macedone:
Oh yeah. I had to just focus on my singing or else I was gonna freak out too much. So <laugh> I had to be in it.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, that's so cool.

Lauryn Macedone:
I was closing my eyes here and that's when they all turned around and so I opened my eyes and I saw that they had turned around <laugh>. And you can, in my blind audition, I get this little smile. You can tell the moment that I noticed that they've turned around.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's so awesome.

Lauryn Macedone:
It's pretty awesome. This was my whole team.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh yeah.

Lauryn Macedone:
They were awesome. So this guy actually won my season. His name's Chris Blue and he was super cool. This was one of my really good friends.

Anthony Godfrey:
And there's Alicia right at the center.

Lauryn Macedone:
There’s Alicia right there. Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you really got some time with her.

Lauryn Macedone:
Uh huh, yeah. It was super neat.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's cool. Okay. Can we watch a little video here?

Lauryn Macedone:
Yeah. This is my blind audition video.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Is this a live band playing with you?

Lauryn Macedone:
Yes.

Lauryn Macedone singing Girls Just Want to Have Fun:

I come home in the morning light,
My mother says when you gonna live your life right?

Anthony Godfrey:
<Laugh> You can see them touching the button.

Lauryn Macedone:
Uhhuh.

Anthony Godfrey:
I would've watched this a thousand times if I were you.

Lauryn Macedone:
I think I have probably.

Anthony Godfrey:
You can see them react immediately.

Lauryn Macedone:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
And you sound so good.

Lauryn Macedone:
Thank you.

Singing:
Some boys take a beautiful girl and hide her away from the rest of the world.
I want to be the one to walk in the sun...

Alicia thought there were two singers.

Anthony Godfrey:
She thought that was a different person, because you just busted it out right there.

Lauryn Macedone:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
<Laugh>. That's what she's asking Blake.

Lauryn Macedone:
Uh huh.

Anthony Godfrey:
What that shows is your range. They're singing along. They're moving to it.

Lauryn Macedone:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Look at that.

Lauryn Macedone:
Here's the moment right there. You can tell, that's when I saw.

Anthony Godfrey:
And you know what? They're having fun. They're totally enjoying that.

Lauryn Macedone:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
So if anyone wants to watch this, they just search Lauren Judd, L a u r y n  Judd, Draper, "The Voice", and that'll come up. I just can't believe the interaction. it's so exciting. But your performance. Wow.

Lauryn Macedone:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
You sounded so good on that.

Lauryn Macedone:
Thanks.

Anthony Godfrey:
And to do that on that stage, much less do it in the privacy of your own home. That's talent.

Lauryn Macedone:
Thank you. You are so nice. Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
So what are you doing now with your talent besides coming on the Supercast?

Lauryn Macedone:
Yes. Yes. <Laugh>, you know, I have to really find time to make time for this hobby. It's hard when I am so busy, I am trying to bring it into my classroom as much as I can. As a first year teacher, I'm like grasping the curriculum first and then I think I will slowly be able to bring it more into the classroom. But my goal is to integrate music into the classroom a lot because individuals with different abilities relate with music so much. It just connects with them on a different level. And so I really want to utilize that in my teaching. I do perform every once in a while. I recorded a little bit recently. But I really, I need to do music more. I have to make more time for it. It’s hard.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about recording and performing you've done recently.

Lauryn Macedone:
Yeah, I do. I've just recorded an album of original songs that I wrote.

Anthony Godfrey:
Really? So you're composing on top of all this?

Lauryn Macedone:
I did, yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. I think I've said wow about 15 times in this Supercast, but I'm really blown away by your talent. Tell me about the stuff that you’ve written.

Lauryn Macedone:
Yes. So it's got kind of like that sixties, seventies singer-songwriter vibe like we talked about earlier. And it does, it kind of has a Christian base that I've been working around and trying to get into. Just original songs with my heart and feelings.

Anthony Godfrey:
There's good market for that type of music.

Lauryn Macedone:
Yes. Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
<Laugh> Well, I'd love to hear some of your original stuff so send me a link. And I'd love to have a live performance right now, if you don't mind.

Lauryn Macedone:
Oh, yes, yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
My chair does turn if it feels better for me to turn my back.

Lauryn Macedone:
Perfect, Yes. Probably.

Anthony Godfrey:
And then hit the table and spin around.

Lauryn Macedone:
That's what you should do. Definitely. Definitely. Okay, so this is Wild Flowers by Tom Petty.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, I love this song. It’s a great one.

Lauryn Macedone:
It's so good.

Singing:
You belong among the wildflowers
You belong in a boat out at sea
Sail away, kill off the hours
You belong somewhere you feel free

Run away, find you a lover
Go away somewhere all bright and new
I have seen no other
Who compares with you.

Anthony Godfrey:
The crowd goes wild <laugh>.

Lauryn Macedone:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
That sounded so good. I couldn't join in on that I needed to hear you sing. That was so good.

Lauryn Macedone:
You’re so nice. Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
Man, you've got a great voice, <laugh>. That was awesome.

Lauryn Macedone:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thank you. Thanks for sharing your talents today. I wish you the best of luck in the future. And thanks for sharing your talents in our classroom here at South Jordan.

Lauryn Macedone:
Thank you so much for having me, and thanks for letting me be a part of this awesome district.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's fantastic to have you. Thank you.

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. March is National Women's History Month, a time to recognize the vital contribution of women in American history. On this episode of the Supercast, we find out how schools are celebrating, and we sit down with a woman in our school community making history in her own right. Meet Dawn Ramsey, President of the Jordan Education Foundation and the first female mayor of South Jordan City. But first, we stop by West Jordan Middle School, where Martha Hughes Cannon, the first female State Senator in the United States, is being celebrated on morning announcements.

Rae Garrison:
Good morning, West Jordan Middle School, faculty, staff, and students. Give me a heartbeat. Today is Monday, March 20th. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're here at West Jordan Middle School, talking with Principal Rae Garrison and two of our student body officers. Introduce yourselves.

Vina:
Hi, I'm Vina. I am ninth-grade historian.

Allie:
Hi, I'm Allie, and I'm eighth-grade historian.

Anthony Godfrey:
And as part of your announcements every morning, you've been focusing on Women's History Month. Principal Garrison, tell us about this project.

Principal Rae Garrison:
Yeah, so we like to recognize the various national designated months throughout the year. So, you know, Black History Month, Pacific Islander, and of course Women's History Month. So we make a slide for every day to highlight various important figures throughout history. We feel like it's really important to share with the students what these women have accomplished is what the month's all about.

Anthony Godfrey:
Have you been highlighting a different woman each day?

Allie:
Yes. Mm-hmm.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Let's go through some of the ones that you've been featuring. Any favorites along the way?

Principal Rae Garrison:
My favorite slides that we've done are ones that recognize the collective effort of some of our great women leaders throughout history. You know, for example, the Code Breakers of World War II. Over 10,000 women worked as code breakers, deciphering enemy messages.

Allie:
I would say my favorite one so far is Mary Jackson. We learned about her last year in language arts, and I think it was really cool to see like how she was the first one to like break those codes and stuff. And it was like, she was super smart and people like didn't realize that and she showed them who’s boss kind of thing and I love that.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah <laugh>. That's awesome. How about for you?

Vina:
I think mine is Patsy Mink because she just like stood up and became one of the first like women to be in the Congress, which I think is really like, powerful and for like, her time. And so I think that she's like a really good role model.

Allie:
March is Woman's History Month. So Principal Garrison's Woman's History Month highlight is Martha Hughes. Martha Hughes Cannon was a Utah Woman's Rights activist and suffragist. Martha was working at the age of 14. At 16, she enrolled in the University of Deseret, which is now called the University of Utah. She received a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry. She attended the University of Michigan and received her MD, Medical Doctor. Cannon worked as a doctor and fought for women's rights. She helped put women enfranchisement voting into Utah's constitution when it was granted statehood in 1896. On November 3rd, 1896, Cannon became the first female State Senator elected in the United States, defeating her own husband who was also on the ballot.

Anthony Godfrey:
And tell us about who you featured today.

Allie:
This was Martha Hughes, and we have a wall of her. I think she's just really cool that she did all this stuff such as like advocate for women's rights and stuff, and I love how she defeated her own husband in that <laugh>. I think that's really fun.

Principal Rae Garrison:
Martha Hughes Cannon being the first female in Congress certainly sends a message to our young ladies that you can accomplish great things.

Anthony Godfrey:
And it's a particularly important message in middle school. Just to be reminded that you can do things that you may not think you're capable of.

Principal Rae Garrison:
Yeah, absolutely.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love that you've got her up on the wall. And Principal Garrison, you've done such a nice job of creating an engaging space for students. There's a lot to see here. Anyone who hasn't been to West Jordan Middle is missing out on all the murals and it's a great way of making the most of students’ time here. Thanks very much for letting us drop in on your announcements and I think you guys are doing a great thing here, so keep it up.

Allie:
Thank you.

Principal Rae Garrison:
Thank you, superintendent.

Vina:
Thank you so much.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're here today with Mayor Dawn Ramsey to celebrate National Women's History Month. Mayor Ramsey, thanks for joining us.

Mayor Dawn Ramsey:
Well, thank you very much for having me. It's an honor to be here.

Anthony Godfrey:
How many years are you into being a mayor now?

Mayor Dawn Ramsey:
This is my sixth year as mayor.

Anthony Godfrey:
And not only are you mayor of South Jordan, but you've been involved with Jordan School District in many, many ways for a very long time. And we want to talk about that. Really to start off with, I think the first time that I really remember calling on you for help was when we had a group of parents talking about a boundary change, and you came in and talked with those parents. You just did such a nice job of conveying just your confidence in the District and in the school. And we've relied on you many times since then, but I've always appreciated your support for the District with everything else that you have going on.

Mayor Dawn Ramsey:
Well, thank you. I thought about that the other day. I went to the musical, fantastic musical that they did at Elk Ridge Middle School. They just did Suessical and I was there and I thought about the first time we met. I was PTA President at Elk Ridge is what it was. And yeah, there were some boundary changes and a good opportunity to talk about some of the great things that were happening at Elk Ridge Middle School, but that was a long time ago. I was trying to do the math. It's been at least 11 years, I think.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. Yeah. It's been more than a decade. Yeah. Tell me, let's focus on your work as a mayor first of all, let's talk about that. You've been visiting classrooms with us to honor Outstanding Educators, and as a result, you get to interact with a lot of students. And there's something that a student said to you as you were leaving that I thought was particularly poignant. Well, would you talk about that a little bit?

Mayor Dawn Ramsey:
Yes, for sure. I love going into the classroom and seeing the students and the teachers being part of presenting some of these awards. Visiting schools means a great deal to me. But the students are so fun. If you're ever having kind of a down day go in and get greeted by a bunch of first graders or fourth graders or seventh grade, they just brighten my day. I have had more than one student say to me as I've been leaving. It's something I've heard a few times. I didn't know a girl, or I didn't know a woman could be a mayor. <Laugh>. I've had a lot of young kids say that to me.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. And what's your response when they say that?

Mayor Dawn Ramsey:
It's true. It is true. A woman can be a mayor and you could, whether they're boys or girls, young men or young women, you could be too if you decided. You can be anything you'd like to be. And they usually think that's pretty cool.

Anthony Godfrey:
I definitely do not remember a mayor visiting my classroom. No question about that. I'm amazed, as we've talked over the years at the number of committees you've served on and led. The groups that you've been in charge of, you really engage in ways that make me wonder, and I'm a busy guy, how you're able to do everything that you do. So tell me, let's go through some of the things, as many as you can remember, how many of the boards and advisory groups that you have been a part of as Mayor of South Jordan.

Mayor Dawn Ramsey:
Wow. On the spot that might be hard to come up with. I’ll rattle off a few.

Anthony Godfrey:
I wasn't joking when I was saying the ones you can remember, because over the years, you've been involved in a lot.

Mayor Dawn Ramsey:
There have been a lot and it's been a privilege. But when I ran for mayor the first time, and then again the second time, my commitment to the residents was that I would make this my full-time effort and give it my all. That I would do everything I could to give South Jordan a seat at the table anywhere that I could. And I'm proud to say that I've accomplished that almost to an exhausting level sometimes <laugh> as you mentioned. But it's been such a blessing. So, let's see. I had the chance to serve for the last four years as a member of the Board of the Utah League of Cities and Towns. And I just wrapped up my term as president. I've been an executive officer for the last, this is my fourth year as an officer. So I guess five years on the Board.

Anthony Godfrey:
The League of Cities and Towns has kind of a mystery to it. Like the Justice League or something.

Mayor Dawn Ramsey:
Yes, <laugh>. That is the coalition that represents all 250 plus cities and towns in the state of Utah. We have an organization where we come together and work together, and we work a lot at the legislative session with legislators to make sure that policy is crafted that is going to be helpful and not hurtful to local government. And to advocate for local control and things that are important and to also share best practices. So it was an honor to be chosen amongst my peers from across the state as President of our organization. I'm currently chair of the Wasatch Front Regional Council, which as I mentioned, does the transportation and land use plans for the entire Wasatch front. So we've got seven counties from Box Elder down to Salt Lake County, and it's an honor the next two years to chair the Wasatch Front Regional Council. And I'm also the first woman in their more than 50 year history to ever chair the council. So that's quite an honor. Let's see. My goodness, I, for the last three years have been the public sector vice chair of the Economic Development Corporation of Utah. This is gonna get boring. This list is kind of long.

Anthony Godfrey:
No, no. Keep on going, keep on going.

Mayor Dawn Ramsey:
Let’s see. I represent cities on the Utah Unified Economic Opportunity Commission that was created by the governor and legislature two years ago. And that's the governor, the speaker of the house, the president, and members of the cabinet. And I represent the seat for cities and towns on that. I serve as a trustee for the state on the Point of the Mountain State Land Authority, working on the Point as we redevelop the prison site. I serve on the Olene Walker Affordable Housing Board for the state and also on the State Drinking Water Board.

It has been a long time. I started on the Jordan Education Foundation when I was region director. I think I was still associate director for the PTA for Jordan School District. So it's been, this is my 10th year on the Jordan Education Foundation Board, and a privilege to be a part of the work, to engage the community to help provide resources to fuel success in Jordan School District, to work as a companion organization to be part of this.

When I was elected mayor, I was not willing to let the Jordan Education Foundation role go because it's where my heart is. It's what I love to do. So it's not because I'm the mayor that I'm on the Education Foundation, it's because I've been there for a long time and now I happen to be a mayor. But it's been a privilege to serve with so many great volunteers from our community and to come together with businesses, business leaders, educators to recognize teachers and provide classroom grants. And I'm very proud that we were able to start the Principal's Pantry program, which is now in every school. Beds for kids. We do all sorts of things, clothes and eyeglasses, and there's so many things that we've been able to do and grow that it's really been an honor to be part of it.

Anthony Godfrey:
Talk about your PTA involvement as well over the years.

Mayor Dawn Ramsey:
I've been PTA president a lot of times, <laugh>, <laugh> and I thought I was gonna be able to kind of stay under the radar. I was president at our kids elementary school. My kids have gone, we've got six kids and they've gone to several, so many of the schools that we have. As boundaries change and things move around and you join different programs and things like that. So I've served in the PTA a lot. And then I was able to serve as associate director and then as region director for the Jordan PTA for four years. So as the parent representative, working closer with the administrative level and with the volunteers at all the schools at every school. And then representing our district on the state PTA board.

Anthony Godfrey:
You've done a ton <laugh>, you've been everywhere all the time. I think the movie is Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Mayor Dawn Ramsey:
I don't know about that, but I actually finished my last six months as Region PTA Director were my first six months as mayor. I did both.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us when we come back more with Mayor Ramsey.

Break:
Hello, I'm Tracy Miller, President of the Jordan School District Board of Education. There are seven members on the Board of Education, one in each voting district. We are committed to listening and serving our constituents as we work together to provide the best possible learning environment for the students we serve. As members of the Jordan Board of Education, we believe it is our duty and responsibility to: increase student achievement; provide parents with the choices they deserve and desire; recognize and reward quality in educators; empower school leaders through policy governance and professional development; and communicate with the public, legislators, business leaders, cities, and parents. We invite you to get to know the Board member who represents you in your voting district and to please join us at our monthly board meeting held on the fourth Tuesday of every month. Or listen from the comfort of your home, on our live stream. For more information and to find your Board member, visit jordandistrict.org. With parent and community input and support, we will continue our work to give students every opportunity to succeed in Jordan District schools and beyond. Thank you for your support. We look forward to seeing you soon.

Anthony Godfrey:
Let's talk about your time as mayor. What was it that made you want to run to be Mayor of South Jordan City?

Mayor Dawn Ramsey:
Well, I love the community we live in and I had been involved for many years as a volunteer in the community. Often it was through education, volunteering a lot of time in the classrooms, a lot of PTA. Just spent a great deal of time volunteering also in the arts, also in little league sports. And so had just done a lot of volunteering in the community and the mayor wasn't running for reelection. There was an open seat. And I just decided I'd love to take the opportunity to represent our community and to give my all, my full-time, my best efforts to advocating for the residents if they want me to. And felt confident that I could do a good job. I knew I had a lot I'd need to learn, but I thought, if I give my best to this, I think I could make a difference for this community. And if the residents want me to, I'm willing to give it my all. And was humbled and honored to be elected the first woman ever elected mayor in the city of South Jordan. And to have that chance and now to be reelected, it's an honor to get to represent our city.

Anthony Godfrey:
And I wanted to ask you about that. How does it feel to be the first female mayor of a city?

Mayor Dawn Ramsey:
Well, humbling, honestly. It might surprise some people that South Jordan's been a community since the beginning of the settling of Utah. And so it's been a very long time. And we've got a fantastic wall that images of all of the previous mayors of the city are on. And it's gonna look a little different at one point when all of a sudden there's this blonde woman up there next to all the gentlemen who have served so well. But I'm honored to get to do it and feel like it's a chance to be a role model to young women, young men, men and women, everywhere. I never wanted to run on the vote for me because I'm a woman platform ever. Vote for me because I'm the best candidate is what I was running on. And I just appreciate the confidence that the residents have in me and the opportunity to show that decisions about who may or may not best fill a role, shouldn't come down to gender. It should come down to who's the best candidate, who's gonna do the best job there. And I feel strong about that, but it really is an honor to get to do this and to be a role model.

Anthony Godfrey:
What are some things that people might be surprised or that surprised you about becoming mayor? Some things maybe people wouldn't expect are part of the job or are difficult parts of the job.

Mayor Dawn Ramsey:
Well, no two days are the same. Anytime someone says, what's your day like, I could never give you just one example of what it is. I could say a lot of meetings, you know? No two days are the same. What has surprised me, probably what surprises me the most is how much I love it. Because if you look back over the last five plus years it's been a rocky time sometimes politically in our country. We've had a lot of public discourse that's been contentious. It might surprise you that I love it so much. It is not all roses, but I'm honored to do the work of the people. The thing that surprised me the most when I jumped into this, my intention was to give my very best efforts and to try to wear myself out. But I never understood what a benefit it would be to me. That I would be the lucky recipient who was blessed to get to know so many people and that my life would be enriched. I almost feel selfish saying that because it's enriched my life so much to get to be part of wonderful things with amazing people. That's what surprised me the most.

Anthony Godfrey:
You do get a bit of a backstage pass to the city as a whole and all of the things that are going on and I'm sure get to meet a lot of people that you wouldn't have the opportunity to otherwise.

Mayor Dawn Ramsey:
Absolutely. And you know, I really appreciate, even if I meet people because they come to talk at city council meeting. If they come to speak during public comment or something, and whether they come to say there's something they're happy about or they have a question or a suggestion or whether they're not happy, I appreciate people's willingness to engage in the process and to come. I absolutely believe if somebody's willing to come and speak they deserve the chance to be heard. And I really am grateful and will always stand up for everyone's right to have the chance to come and say what they want to say. Even if I don't agree with what they come and say, I'll always defend the right to be able to do it.

Anthony Godfrey:
Sure. What would you say to young people or others who are considering the possibility of running for elected office?

Mayor Dawn Ramsey:
I would say if you get that inclination, if that crosses your mind and you find yourself interested in thinking that might be something you'd like to do, absolutely do it. The trouble these days as things have become a little more contentious is that there's a lot of good people who might be interested, but they just won't run because it's not easy. It is not easy. And as long as you go into it, knowing that, that it's not meant to be easy. The nature of our system, the way things are set up is that anyone in this government of the people has the chance to run and to participate. And so, you know, when you're going to represent the people you're opening yourself up to criticism, if that's how the people feel, whatever it is.

The opportunity to be part of this great work to be stewards over the money, the taxpayer's money, which I believe is sacred. Sacred funds and a sacred obligation and I don't mean that in a spiritual sense. I just think there is a deep significant responsibility with overseeing the taxpayer's money. And the obligation to get that right is significant. But there are so many great opportunities for people to serve that. If anyone out there is ever considering, ‘ah, someday I might wanna do that.’ Absolutely do it. Inform yourself, learn about the issues, participate. My counsel would be to be well informed. Go for it. I appreciate and tip tip my hat to anyone willing to put their name in the ring to run for public office.

Anthony Godfrey:
So in other words, if you have that inclination, listen to it and pursue it and see where that takes you by becoming more informed and kind of envisioning that possibility for yourself. Don’t just tamp it down and move on.

Mayor Dawn Ramsey:
Absolutely.

Anthony Godfrey:
Any parting thoughts on Women's History Month?

Mayor Dawn Ramsey:
I'm honored to stand on the shoulders of giants. There are great men and great women who have gone before. Who have paved the way. I'm grateful for the good women and men who fought for women's suffrage, who really paved the way for me to do this work that I love. To do the work of the people and to be involved because I wouldn't have had this opportunity if I'd been born a hundred years ago. And it's an honor to be part of it and to serve with so many good people. And I think it is important that we have the voices of both good men and good women at the table. It gives balanced perspective that I think helps us come up with the best policies, leading to the best outcomes. I think that's critical. And so I'm just honored to be part of it now and paving my own little tiny trail through history and just grateful for everyone who went before who have allowed me the opportunity to be here.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, thank you very much for everything you do as mayor and everything you've done for Jordan School District at school, students and employees over the years.

Mayor Dawn Ramsey:
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.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They are experts in communication, evaluating, diagnosing, and treating speech and communication disorders. On this episode of the Supercast, we talk to Jordan School District's speech language pathologists about the important work they do, helping students of all ages who may be experiencing challenges in some aspect of speech or communication. Find out how they are making a huge difference in the lives of students in and outside the classroom.

We're here today at Joel P. Jensen talking with Ryan Sainsbury, who is a speech language pathologist at Joel P. Jensen and Kristin Norris, the speech language pathologist and audiologist coordinator for the District. Thank you very much for taking the time.

Ryan Sainsbury:
Thank you. It's exciting to be here.

Kristin Norris:
Yeah, it's great to talk with you today.

Anthony Godfrey:
So Ryan, let's just talk to you first about being an SLP. That's our first acronym of the show. There might be a lot more. Talk to me about being a speech language pathologist. What does that involve? Because I think a lot of people may not understand exactly what the job entails.

Ryan Sainsbury:
Yeah. definitely I think as far as like being an SLP, it's so like vast and vague, a lot of it that sometimes it's confusing and hard for people to grasp because we can and do do so much. So there's usually like a medical side that we won't really get into where we help people from strokes and different brain injuries recover and things like that. And then we have the school-based side, which we are in right now. And within this side there's lots of things we kind of treat and diagnose. Speech and language disorders and communication disorders that people have. So whether it's because of various diagnoses that they were born with or maybe different delays and things that they have we help them try to learn to communicate and we try to give everybody a voice.

Anthony Godfrey:
And Kristin, tell me about the difference from level to level. I know that we have SLPs working with students of all ages, so what are the different areas of focus at at different ages?

Kristin Norris:
So it's really individualized by the student, but in general we have SLPs that are working in our early intervention program. We have SLPs that are working in our preschool program. And then we have elementary, we have secondary, we even have in our post high program. A lot of times I think people really feel like what we work on is speech sounds, and that is a big part of what we do. And you particularly see that at that elementary level. You see a lot of work on either individual speech sounds, they're what we call phonological processes, which are groups of patterns of speech that students have.

But there's a whole other piece, and that's the language piece. The language piece covers everything from social language to vocabulary to understanding and comprehending tests. It’s tied into phonemic awareness and the skills that they're learning in 1st and 2nd. So there's this tie into literacy and reading. And it just is any way that a student communicates, we can help facilitate if they have a disability in that. As we get into the secondary level, we probably see a lot more of the language piece, really helping them access the classroom and what they need to be successful. And then transitioning as they move into that post high program, what's gonna help 'em be successful is they as they leave our program.

Anthony Godfrey:
So Ryan, tell me what that looks like for you day to day as you're working with a student. What are some of the sorts of things you're working on and doing to help them progress?

Ryan Sainsbury:
At the secondary level, we see a lot of like auditory comprehension. They don't seem to have the structure of language that it takes. Kinda at the structural level and then also at the like syntax level or at the sentence level and also even at the word or semantic level. So these are different levels that we work with every day. So each day we have a caseload that varies with a lot of different things, but it's often helping them trying to figure out how they can access their education better. So maybe it's helping them follow directions because they don't quite understand sequencing. Or maybe we can even break that down further to maybe they don't understand certain clauses and sentences very well, like their brains haven't quite figured out that structure for them to be successful, to follow directions or even to impact like behaviors and different things. So once you realize that language really impacts like every aspect, it's really fun. So we work with the team of gen ed teachers our special ed teachers, even our administration to our psychologists, to everybody to try to figure out how we can help them socially and academically improve and get access to the communication and different things that they need, the skillsets they need to be successful.

Anthony Godfrey:
So there are aspects of communication that we might take for granted if you don't struggle with these sorts of issues.

Ryan Sainsbury:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
But you really have to break things down for students who do have difficulties in these areas.

Kristin Norris:
Yeah, absolutely. One of the easiest ways to maybe look at it as the difference between receptive and expressive language. Receptive is our understanding of language and expressive is how we output that language. We get a lot of kids, especially at the secondary level who may struggle with understanding. What they look like are kids that are maybe off task in the classroom, kids that are maybe hesitant to speak up, kids that are maybe withdrawn. Instead it is that they're not understanding that language processing and need some strategies to do that. And then they can be more successful in accessing their curriculum from that receptive language component.

Anthony Godfrey:
And the receptive language from what you're describing might be frustrating for the person who's expressing and it's not being received.

Kristin Norris:
Absolutely.

Anthony Godfrey:
And the unkind, I don't know, ‘what part of sitting in your chair don't you understand?’ Well, they may not actually understand because they're not processing those instructions in the way that many people would. I can imagine that creates a lot of frustration for everybody. So it's really important to have SLPs in place to help overcome those challenges. Do students sometimes get to secondary not realizing that they've had this problem all along?

Ryan Sainsbury:
Yeah. especially at our school. Usually like mid-year we've had a bunch of initial evals and different things come in because teachers are are beginning to really recognize like, hey, maybe this student has something that's not quite right with their understanding or how they're expressing things. So yeah, throughout the years and throughout the year we get tons of referrals all the time for us to kind of evaluate and to see how we can help support these students. And often it really is like, because they're not understanding, they're confused or some of those behaviors start to manifest themselves.

Anthony Godfrey:
It must be very rewarding to see students make progress and be able to overcome frustrations that allow them to not only engage with teachers in the classroom, but with classmates. To probably make friends more easily once those communicative issues are are overcome.

Kristin Norris:
Yeah, absolutely. Expressive languages is obviously a lot more noticeable. We notice from the very beginning when kids are having a hard time saying something, when they don't have vocabulary. And so those are the kids that we pick up often early in the beginning. Then we find out that there's a receptive language component to that as well. The other piece to that is that social pragmatic language. That is the ability to understand how you're supposed to interact with someone. Sometimes it's called the hidden curriculum. That we know instinctively that when someone says hello to us, we're supposed to say hello back and to carry on a conversation. This would be the next step, we'll ask a question. Well, our kids that struggle with that, they don't know those things instinctively and we have to teach them how to do those skills. Otherwise they get excluded. They get those are the kids that end up getting bullied. Those are the kids that teachers get frustrated with because they just seem like they're not doing what they're supposed to, but it's really a fact that they don't understand.

Ryan Sainsbury:
And I think like a real beautiful piece is when we're able to kind of see inside the mind and these language skills that they do have and we're able to convey that to a parent. And you see their eyes light up because they're like, ‘oh that makes so much sense, like what you're telling me,’ right. Like at home or at different functions and things like that. Also when you tell their teachers and their teachers go, ‘oh that makes so much sense. Like, I'm glad you told me that because I thought I was just being impatient.’ And I was like, ‘well yeah’. So we advocate for them to be a little bit more patient but we also give them skills and strategies to use with these students in the classroom. So it's almost like, I dunno, it's like a win-win. Our job is the best because I don't think we can really lose cause we can like help so much. We get to help kids and we need to help others help kids and it helps them in return. So, I don't know. It's really cool.

Anthony Godfrey:
And I like the way you described that. You're not just giving kids skills, you're giving parents skills. And you're giving teachers skills so that we can more effectively connect with students who may struggle with these issues. So is there an occupational hazard a little bit that when you're out in the public listening to people speak, maybe even as you're listening to me interview you, that you're thinking, ‘oh wait a second. I could touch that up a little bit and I could help 'em with with this speech issue.’ I mean I assume you hear that everywhere you go.

Ryan Sainsbury:
Yes. It's a blessing and a curse sometimes. We literally have to turn that side of our brain off so that we can function in our world without going crazy with all the speech and language things that we hear. Kristin Norris:
I have definitely been places and there are times that I don't wanna overstep my bounds, but I want to be like, ‘Ooh, I hope that they've talked to their SLP at the school. I hope that that child is is is being seen.’ I've gotten better at it over the years. Trying to disassociate. But I do have a sign above my desk that says, ‘Keep talking. I'm diagnosing you.’

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, well that's good. Always diagnosing, always looking for a way to help.

Stay with us. When we come back, how do you know if your child may need the services of a speech language pathologist? We'll tell you after the break.

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:
Tell me about some of the expressive issues that you might experience, that parents might watch for. Some of the more obvious things that parents might notice that would signal that involving an SLP is going to be helpful.

Kristin Norris:
Well, primarily one of the easiest things is gonna be like a speech sound disorder. If a child is struggling with certain sounds that they should have. Particularly if there's frustration involved in that. They're not able to communicate what they want to, and because of that frustration, we're seeing behaviors. They're throwing a temper tantrum when those little kids. Hopefully our middle school kids aren't throwing temper tantrums, but sometimes still there. Yeah, sometimes they are right? They're expressing their frustration because they can't communicate. They can't get out what they wanna say. So from the very beginning, that's something that parents can recognize. If you find that you're having to have them repeat things over and over and over before they can understand things. You know, that's a good, that's a good thing and a sign to look at for for parents. If they seem to be struggling with some of those literacy concepts, that would be another thing. You know, if they're really struggling, like they've gone over phonemic awareness over and over and again and they just can't seem to get it, then maybe we need to do something a little more in depth and look at some of those components as well.

Ryan Sainsbury:
And so a lot of my background was actually in like narrative structure or stories. And so when you have a student or a child who's developing and you have that look on your face as a parent as they're explaining something to you like uhhuh, uhhuh, uhhuh, and it never quite gets to a point. Or the sequence or the events don't quite make sense. Basically when you're learning and you're developing, we learn from stories. So if you look at grade level elementary, preschool, like we learn from stories, that's how we learn. And then we get into like informational texts and different things that are a little bit more difficult once we hit the secondary level. So that change, that shift of structure is really hard for a lot of people. But those early markers, like Kristin had said about like the who, where, why, what questions when they're telling a story or just them being able to express a story, you'll be able to tell pretty quickly whether it makes sense or they're getting in the right direction or if it's just a total jumble and you're trying to figure it out.

Kristin Norris:
Parents really rely on their kids coming home and being able to tell them what they do in a day. Or if something happened on the playground, them being able to come in and tell the teacher this is what happened. For our kids that have communication disorders, they don't have the skill and the structure to do that. And so they're the ones who then sometimes get left out. They don't know what's going on, they can't explain what happened at recess. Maybe they get blamed for what happened at recess because they weren't able to explain it.

Anthony Godfrey:
They can't really advocate for themselves sometimes.

Kristin Norris:
Yeah. Because they lack that narrative structure to just retell a simple event and what happened in there. And to understand the components why this happened. You know, I was able to react this way and therefore somebody reacted back to me this way. That perspective taking is, is really difficult as well.

Anthony Godfrey:
So what are some of the things that parents ought to watch for that might be an indication that there are expressive concerns? You've talked about that a little bit. Are there other things that you tell parents to watch for?

Ryan Sainsbury:
You're always gonna have, part of it will be like some of the grammatical markers and morphines that we use. So even things like past tense verbs or their sentence structure. But it varies really through age. And so that's why it's really important to, I dunno, like know SLPs. I think it's the same for Kristen, like as soon as you find out that someone in your family or your neighbor is an SLP you just get questions all day from parents who have kids who are developing.

Anthony Godfrey:
Not quite like being a mechanic, but kind of similar to that.

Ryan Sainsbury:
Similar, yeah, exactly. Very, very similar. And so you get questions all day and so there is like grade levels or kind of like age level markers that help. And so once you kind of realize like, oh, your students should be here or expressing themselves in this way and they're kind of missing these skills, then that's when we can come in and kind of fill those gaps.

Anthony Godfrey:
So the receptive issues, let's talk about that. Like you said, those are gonna be more difficult to detect unless you're looking at a pattern over time. So what would parents look for to so that they could identify that perhaps there there's an issue with their child?

Ryan Sainsbury:
Yeah, so I'm speaking more for like the secondary level because that's kind of my more my expertise. But in particular we look at just following simple directions and whether they're able to sequence things, put events in order or understand the order of events. Even just are they able to retain information that you've given them? Are they able to summarize things that you've given them and then say, ‘okay, can you tell that back to me? Like the key points that you need to do.’ Or even little things like if you're watching a TV show you say, ‘Hey, can you summarize like the main events or what's been going on?’ So a lot of those types of things are really critical for our brain to kind of store information. And so if you ask those types of tasks and they're unable to do it, then you can kind of tell they might not have the pattern for those things to kind of file into their correct order to be easily accessed as well. So it kind of goes both ways as far as at the secondary level. But I'd say mostly you definitely get it with the kids who are not paying attention and are often the problems. It's because are they not paying attention or they literally not quite get the language component. So that's where it gets trickier, I guess.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, sure.

Kristin Norris:
One of the things that we sometimes have to do as we're teasing out information with kids is figure out that can't do versus won't do. You know, is this because they don't know how to do it or is this because they've chosen not to do it? And some of those kids can really look like the won't do and then we have to tease out that information and figure out the can't do.

Ryan Sainsbury:
And in particular at a school like Joel P. Jensen, that I love cause I'm actually a bilingual speech therapist or speech language pathologist, and so I get to kind of hone in on is it a like a disorder of language or is it a language difference? And they don't quite have the language because we have many of our students who speak Spanish at home. But they have to now speak English totally different at school, right? So kind of in that, we have to find out whether it's an actual disorder or is it just a difference and they just need to be taught that again.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you're a bit of a speech dual language pathologist.

Ryan Sainsbury:
That's exactly right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I was working on a title, so that's right.

Kristin Norris:
At a really young age some of those things I think you would look for in kids starts with really basic information. You know, kids develop one word to start with and then they start to put words together and then that grows into longer sentences and more complex structures. If you're asking them to point to something and we can't build the vocabulary through pointing, you know, that would be something that would be a concern. You know, if you ask them to point to the dog and they point to something else, even though you've gone over it and over and over again, that would be a red flag at the beginning. If you're asking them to go pick up their shoe and the shoe is right in front of him and they don't know what you're asking him. So this just starts kind of with that basic kind of understanding of when I give them very basic tasks to do, are they understanding what I'm saying? So that would be kind of a starting point for maybe concerns with parents.

Anthony Godfrey:
I can think of all kinds of situations where it would be nice for a teacher or a parent or even a friend to understand that, hey, there may just be a communication issue at play here. What would you say to parents who listening to this who are maybe worried about their child and would like to get some help for them? What's the first step that they take to do that?

Kristin Norris:
So if they have specific reasons, they can talk and get a referral going and get some specific testing. But if they just wanna have a conversation they can reach out to the Child Development Center if their kids are five years or younger. Or they can reach out to the SLP at their school and just say, ‘Hey, these are some of the things that I'm having a concern with. I'm seeing this. What do you think? Do you think this is something I could be concerned? Are there things I can try?’ And have a conversation with their teachers as well. Their teachers spend a lot of time with them and start to open up and start to really kind of identify what they're struggling with. And then we can decide whether we wanna go down the road and do some more in-depth testing and figure out what those concerns really might be and how we can help them.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now we have how many SLPs in the district?

Kristin Norris:
We have over 120 SLPs in the district in our early intervention preschool and elementary and secondary schools.

Anthony Godfrey:
That is a lot of experts. And we also have some audiologists.

Kristin Norris:
We do.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about the audiologists.

Kristin Norris:
So we have three full-time and one part-time audiologist in Jordan School District, which we're really lucky to have. Not everybody has that much staff. We actually have an audiology booth that's housed at Kari Sue Hamilton. So they can do hearing screenings throughout the district, but they can also do more in-depth evaluations as well. So they are responsible for kind of helping track our kids and do those hearing screenings. But then they are then a resource to us when we're looking at kids who have ongoing hearing loss. They can help track them, they can help talk to and educate teachers. They can help facilitate things like hearing aids and other devices that may be needed for those students. And then we collaborate with them as SLPs on some of those students as well with what they might need because of those hearing losses.

Anthony Godfrey:
And the way you've described it, it's almost as if you can literally see a light going on inside of their head that they are getting it. That there's a connection and suddenly they're able to do something they couldn't do before and it connects them to the broader world and it makes them a part of it.

Kristin Norris:
Absolutely.

Anthony Godfrey:
And that's wonderful that you're able to do that for our students.

Ryan Sainsbury:
Yeah. and then if I may add, I think a lot of times, like for example just at this school I see kids with speech fluency disorders or what we call like a stutter. I see students on the autism spectrum who need help with social skills. I see other students who need auditory comprehension. They need to figure out how to understand directions better. I see students with severe behavior problems who we need to really help and use language to help them understand and do things better. And that's just like a little bit. I also still see students who have articulation errors and just need to overcome some of these things that have been hard for them their whole lives. And maybe now their confidence has been kind of shaken a little bit because they're older now and they talk different than everybody else.

So to help all these different things, like it's so vague and vast that it can be intimidating at times, but there's nothing more rewarding or I guess more fun than staying current so that you can have the best evidence-based practice so that you can always be helping each student that you come across because the variety is huge, which I like crave. I can't go to work and have like the same thing every day, no way I would go. I would go nuts. So to have the variety, but also to say like the science part is really important. Cause we want our practices to be evidence-based so that we're giving these students the best of what's available.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you get to work with students one-on-one or mostly in small groups and you get to make those connections. And like you said earlier, you get to do something for them that no one else has been able to do. So that's got to be very rewarding.

Kristin Norris:
Yeah, It's often, you've heard it said that the voice is a window to the soul. We have a chance to help kids to actually have that voice. To make a connection with their peers, with their parents, with their friends, with their teachers in a way that maybe they wouldn't be able to do otherwise. And we use communication for everything. Everything. Non-Verbal, verbal communication, whatever we do, written communication. It's part of everything we do.

Anthony Godfrey:
What a great program. Thank you very much for taking the time and for everything you do to help our students.

Ryan Sainsbury:
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.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello, and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. It is a program that brings students of all abilities together, working as a team, building trust, and a lifelong love of sports and respect for one another. On this episode of the Supercast, we take you to Weber State University, where Jordan School District students hit the court in a Special Olympics Unified Sports statewide basketball tournament. It is a tournament where everyone involved walks away a winner because of their hard work, big hearts, and compassion for one another. Hear what Utah Governor Spencer Cox and First Lady Abby Cox have to say about these amazing athletes.

We are here at Weber State, at the Unified Sports State Basketball Tournament, talking with the Governor and First Lady. Maybe this question answers itself because it's such a great event. You could be in a lot of different places today doing a lot of different things. Why be here right now?

Governor Spencer Cox:
Yeah. I'm supposed to be in a lot of different places, but this is the happiest place on earth right now. It's the happiest place in Utah. It's just incredible to see these student athletes coming together with their coaches and their families. And it's a permanent smile everywhere you go. Everyone is happy and we love it.

Anthony Godfrey:
And this has been one of your Show Up Initiatives right from the start. Why focus on Special Olympics and Unified Sports?

First Lady Abby Cox:
Well, as a former special education teacher, this is absolutely dear to my heart. It's also something that I experienced as a young person growing up. I had friends with disabilities that I saw in my congregation, in my school, in my community. This is an inclusion revolution and it's the most joyful, wonderful thing that we can do for our students.

Anthony Godfrey:
This has been rocket fuel for our inclusion efforts, your support for this program, and it's just moved us forward very quickly. What impact have you seen in your own life and in the lives of those you've encountered as you've been involved in this effort?

First Lady Abby Cox:
Yeah, you know, in my own life I couldn't do anything more joyful. Every time I come, my soul is filled up. Every time I'm around my friends with all different abilities they teach me what love, what belonging really looks like. And the most important thing I've seen in our schools is that not only are we friendly to people that are different or have a different story, but they're becoming friends, not just friendly. There's a difference. Full inclusion means we're friends, not just friendly.

Governor Spencer Cox:
Yeah. And this is, Abby says this all the time. This is the medicine that our society needs right now. And there's so much division out there, so much hate. And you don't see that here, right? It's changing who we are as people and these peer, the all ability peers, both the peers and our students with disabilities playing together. There's a bond that's formed there that is just so powerful. There's a sense of community, a sense of belonging, as Abby mentioned. And everybody's better because of it. We were talking to parents earlier, parents of students with disabilities and those without disabilities that are playing together. And I don't know who was impacted more, which students were impacted more. It was such a positive influence on both of them.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's true. Anybody who gets close to this program is lifted by it. Tell me, you're both so positive all the time and we appreciate that focus. How does this fit into the broader vision that you have for the state? This focus on positivity, connection, and inclusion.

Governor Spencer Cox:
Yeah. Well, we talk a lot about how community matters and we've seen a fraying of community over time, especially coming out of COVID, right? When we saw that people had to be apart for a period of time. And we are wired for connection. Utah has always been an example of that. We are what social scientists say a state with very strong social capital. We lead the nation in volunteerism. We lead the nation in charitable giving. And that's just not like a nice feature. It plays into everything else. One of the reasons we have the best economy in the country is because we have high social capital and high social trust. And those things really matter. Again, economists are starting to realize that we're not just rational individuals. That we have to have community and connection. And that's why Utah's doing so well. We want to foster that. We want to continue that. We have a legacy of that, and we wanna make sure it gets passed on to other generations and things like this make a difference.

Anthony Godfrey:
And I can't think of a better way to accomplish it than events like this.

First Lady Abby Cox:
Yeah, and I would just add that, you know, it has to be intentional. Yes, that's how it's always been in our state, but that's not a guarantee that that's how it will always be. So we are very intentional in making sure that this sense of community, this sense of coming together will always be a part of everything that we do and who we are as a community and as a culture here in the state.

Anthony Godfrey:
And I love that. You can't take it for granted. You have to take deliberate action to move it forward. Well, thank you very much for taking the time. I can't thank you enough for your support and for helping move us forward.

Governor Spencer Cox:
Thank you, Superintendent.

First Lady Abby Cox:
Thanks so much.

Anthony Godfrey;
Thank you very much.

We're talking now with the Copper Hills High School Unified basketball team coaches just coming off of the victory against Lone Peak. Go ahead and introduce yourselves.

Kennan Madsen:
Kennan Madsen.

Jacqueline Sheppick:
And I'm Jacqueline Sheppick.

Anthony Godfrey:
And tell me about your involvement. How has it been today and last week with the tournament?

Jacqueline Sheppick:
Honestly, it's been such an amazing experience. We love inclusion. Copper Hills is so involved in inclusion and we have like the biggest little student section over there today. We just love seeing our students get the opportunity to shine and for them to be athletes and to be recognized. And it's just been such an amazing two weeks.

Anthony Godfrey:
And you hosted last week?

Jacqueline Sheppick:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
The tournament between Canyons and Jordan School District sponsored by Scheels. Just a friendly competition.

Jacqueline Sheppick:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about that.

Kennan Madsen:
Oh, that was super, super fun. I actually used to coach for Copper Hills basketball, and this honestly has been more fun than doing that. So for me, it's super fun to be a part of this.

Anthony Godfrey:
I remember talking with someone after the event who said, ‘I can't believe I've never seen an event where people are cheering for both teams.’ So it's double the cheering,

Jacqueline Sheppick:
Honestly. It's like, it's so cool to see like inclusion and love and like unity across the state for everyone and it's really awesome to see.

Kennan Madsen:
Yeah, amazing.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's good vibes and we all need good vibes right now.

Jacqueline Sheppick:
But like, go Copper Hills!

Kennan Madsen:
That’s right. That's right. Good vibes all around.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, thank you for all the time and effort you're putting in to make this opportunity possible. Anybody who gets involved is lifted by this event.

Jacqueline Sheppick:
Yeah, it's super fun. We also just had a student win Prom King on Saturday night.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hey, that's awesome!

Jacqueline Sheppick:
He's right here, Alex. So it was really cool. We found out that our school nominated him. We had no idea he got nominated. And he ended up winning by like almost half of the votes. And the kid, you just would've thought he was royalty. He was like cheering and like the whole school was chanting his name.

Kennan Madsen:
The whole school went crazy for him.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's fantastic. Alex, tell us about what you won on Saturday night.

Alex:
Prom king.

Anthony Godfrey:
Prom king. How does that feel?

Alex:
So awesome.

Anthony Godfrey:
I hear that everyone was chanting your name.

Alex:
Alex.

Anthony Godfrey:
How was the dance?

Alex:
Amazing.

Anthony Godfrey:
It was amazing. You have another victory today with your basketball game.

Alex:
Yep.

Anthony Godfrey:
This a good week for you.

Alex:
Thanks.

Anthony Godfrey:
Do you love being at Copper Hills?

Alex:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
What do you like about Copper Hills?

Alex:
I get to shoot hoops.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yep. You gotta shoot hoops. I love it. I love that you're living your best life.

Jacqueline Sheppick:
And this is my student Corbin. He's the one who, straight up, got us here to state today. He got 14 points last game and today just drained two threes. He did awesome!

Anthony Godfrey:
Corbin, two threes. How does that feel?

Corbin:
Good.

Anthony Godfrey:
And 14 points, is that right?

Corbin:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
To what do you owe your success? Preparation, determination, courage. What was it?

Corbin:
Just my family, my friends. Miss Sheppick.

Anthony Godfrey:
Your teacher and your fans and your family cheering you on.

Corbin:
Yeah. Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Corbin, you've got energy spare. You just won the game and you're still bopping around here. You've still got, you've got more left in the tank.

Corbin:
Yep.

Jacqueline Sheppick:
He's our most energetic student. He's always smiling and happy.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's awesome. Way to drain those threes. Congratulations on the “W.”

Corbin:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
You've been a great example of inclusion in our district. How have you seen this change people as they get involved?

Jacqueline Sheppick:
Like, am I gonna cry? Honestly, it's like been life-changing. Not only for myself but like, all of these fans that are here who have welcomed my students and have become their true friends. Not fake friends that they just wanna see on the weekends or just in first period. But they truly love them and they work so hard to make our students included. And I have so many of my peer tutors that come back to me saying, ‘Miss Sheppick, because of your class, I'm gonna be a special ed teacher.’ And that's like the greatest compliment to me. But also my students with disabilities, they leave Copper Hills knowing that they have lifelong friends. And to me, that is my number one goal.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, thanks for being at the center of this and having that exponential impact on students.

Jacqueline Sheppick:
Go grizzlies, like seriously Copper Hills inclusion's working and it's amazing.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's awesome. Thank you.

Stay with us. When we come back, we hear from Jordan School District employees who are passionate about Unified Sports and inclusion for all students.

Break:
Are you looking for a job right now? Looking to work in a fun and supportive environment with great pay and a rewarding career? Jordan School District is hiring. We're currently filling full and part-time positions. You can work and make a difference in young lives and education as a classroom assistant or a substitute teacher. Apply to work in one of our school cafeterias where our lunch staff serves up big smiles with great food every day. We're also looking to hire custodians and bus drivers. In Jordan School District we like to say people come for the job and enjoy the adventure. Apply today at employment.jordandistrict.org.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're here with Cherie Oliver, the Event Coordinator for Scheels. Cherie, thanks for talking with us.

Cherie Oliver:
Of course. I'm so happy to be here.

Anthony Godfrey:
And you're also a parent in Jordan District?

Cherie Oliver:
I am, yep. I've got two girls in middle school.

Anthony Godfrey:
Awesome. Tell me about Scheels’ sponsorship of Unified Sports.

Cherie Oliver:
You know what, it's something that we are just starting and we are so proud to be that. We did the golf tournament last year with the Unified golf teams, and this year we wanted to be more involved. And so we sponsored Jordan and Canyon School Districts and we just wanted to make this happen so bad, but this is how we could do it.

Anthony Godfrey:
And you set up a little rivalry contest last week which was really exciting. I had a Board member who went, who just said, ‘now I need to spread the word about Unified Sports. It was such a cool event.’

Cherie Oliver:
Oh, it was amazing. I cried. I think everybody there cried. It was just so great to see all the kids, including everyone and everyone being excited for everyone. It was a competition, but it was a good healthy competition and something that we are so proud to be a part of. I'm glad that we could be there for.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, Scheels made a significant financial donation to make that possible, and it's not the first time. So we can't thank you enough for your support.

Cherie Oliver:
Yeah, of course. We're happy to do it.

Anthony Godfrey:
And I know we're gonna have a partnership for a long time into the future.

Cherie Oliver:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
So thank you very much for your help in making this possible. I know of no other program that just lifts everybody involved the way that Unified Sports does.

Cherie Oliver:
Absolutely. Absolutely.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're here with Ulbby talking with her about her involvement in Special Olympics. You've been involved with cheer for a long time.

Ulbby Dyson:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
And just tell me about your journey getting involved in Special Olympics and in Unified Sports.

Ulbby Dyson:
Yeah, absolutely. So my husband and I moved here about 13 years ago. My oldest has something called infantile spasms, which is a type of seizure that come in the form of a sneeze. While we were at Primary’s, we kind of saw the need of just that involvement and inclusion part, but we also understood the financial part of it. And so one of the things that my husband and I set to do was, once we actually owned a gym or had a gym to be able to offer these things, we would. So we opened up our gym about almost nine years ago. And we have since then offered Unified and just special athletes programs in our facility at no cost to the parents. And it's pretty much just based off of donations from either just my husband and I working another part-time job or even the community as well.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's amazing that you are working a part-time job just so that you can make this possible for other people.

Ulbby Dyson:
You know, I, I think it was just the ability to, the excitement you get off of just being able to be a part of something. And also really just the community, the camaraderie that we could do. And as cheerleaders, we have that ability as well, right? We can go to events and we had the excitement and we add the poms. We add everything.

Anthony Godfrey:
Right. Right.

Ulbby Dyson:
I think overall it's just one of those situations that you can set yourself up. And part of that, you know, cheer and then leaders, is obviously setting that example for the younger generations to obviously be able to see that is possible.

Anthony Godfrey:
I think the first time I met you was at South Valley at the annual basketball game.

Ulbby Dyson:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
And when I heard about what you'd done with cheerleaders, they just kind of described it as you coming out of nowhere saying, ‘I wanna help. How can I be part of things?’ Tell me about that.

Ulbby Dyson:
You know, it really has been a community involvement. Overall I just try to find my way to be able to bring cheer to people. And I couldn't do it without the support of my husband as well, you know. So I tend not to give him props because he's always kind of behind closed doors. But he is one of the reasons why I can do it is because, you know, he is my biggest cheerleader and he always goes, ‘Okay, well if that's what you wanna do, go have at it.’ But also being able to, with South Valley when we met, some athletes don't have vehicles to get to and from a location. So I found that it would be suitable for myself to go into South Valley once a week for an hour to be able to give back in that way. And give them the opportunity to still perform, still be able to be a part of the basketball tournament, you get to see but also just add that camaraderie and excitement and spirit to the school.

Anthony Godfrey:
And there was a recent event recent competition and an upcoming competition for Unified Cheer. Tell me about that.

Ulbby Dyson:
Yeah, so one of the things that we actually are doing, Special Olympics actually does have a Special Olympics Cheer program. It runs about April until about end of June. And so aside from that, one of the things that we decided to do with other local high school cheer coaches was come together. All of us have have athletes with an intellectual disability that actually cannot compete at our region and state competitions. And so what we decided to do was give them that opportunity and bring them all together. And we had teams driving two hours, an hour and a half, you know, just different all over the valley. And we had about anywhere between 70 to 80 kids just wanting to perform with their partners. So it kind of ended up becoming a Unified performance at our state competition this year. So that was definitely one of our biggest highlights. And overall the excitement of just having that camaraderie with everybody.

Anthony Godfrey:
It just keeps growing. Once you're a part of this, you can't stop. You just want more.

Ulbby Dyson:
Right. Yes. And that's so true. And you know, our Special Olympics program has also been great at like, even embracing cheerleading, starting letting us start that program as well. And with our new CEO as well, Scott Weaver, he's been great at just like, yeah, let's do it. Let's see how we can add this. But it adds that excitement. I mean, even today at this event, we're watching cheerleaders from high schools that are not quite Unified, however, they are still here being a part of that. And you see the difference and you see the excitement that they bring into the game.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's that gravitational pull that just keeps adding more and more people to the program.

Ulbby Dyson:
Absolutely.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, thanks for bringing cheer literally and figuratively to South Valley.

Ulbby Dyson:
Aw, thank you. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

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. They took center court during a recent Utah Jazz basketball game, but it wasn't to score a point or make a free throw. Two Jordan School District teachers are being honored as “Most Valuable Educators” or MVEs by the Jazz organization. On this episode of the Supercast, we sit down with Mountain Point Elementary School teacher, Charity Horne, and Joel P Jensen, teacher Mandy Truscott, to find out what it takes to be an MVE and what makes them stand out as educators, elevating everyone around them.

We're at Joel P Jensen today to celebrate an award-winning teacher, and we're talking with Aaron Hunter, her principal as well. Aaron, how are you?

Aaron Hunter:
Doing great.

Anthony Godfrey:
I want you to talk a little bit about Mandy Truscott and why she won this award. Tell us a little bit about this award and what's happening.

Aaron Hunter:
Yeah, so the Jazz and Instructure who run Canvas, they nominate, I want to say this is the first year. I'm not sure, it's a pretty new award. But yeah, people nominate teachers throughout the state for the Most Valuable Educator Award. Mandy was nominated and I can wholeheartedly say, I've known Mandy for a decade, and she's an amazing teacher. You can’t see her classroom, there's no kids in here. But if you walked in, you could, you could already tell by the way things are organized that she's a wonderful teacher.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's very well organized, it's exciting. It's bursting with fruit flavor. It's got colors everywhere, it looks fantastic. And I've known Mandy for a long time, so I know she's a fantastic teacher. Aaron, how would you describe Mandy Truscott?

Aaron Hunter:
So, Mandy Truscott is the teacher. Like if we ever, she never fills referrals out. If we ever got a referral from Mandy Truscott, we would know that it was a very, very serious thing because Mandy just does an excellent job at managing her classroom, keeping her kids engaged. As she mentioned, the growth that her students make is incredible. It's awesome.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you talked about the growth. Tell me, what kind of growth do you see in students who have Mandy's class?

Aaron Hunter:
Yeah. An average student that takes Mrs. Truscott’s class on average makes about three years of growth in reading from beginning to end

Anthony Godfrey:
That's incredible. That's incredible. Awesome. So in addition to there being astronauts, it's a time travel situation as well. Yeah. Because you're making up for lost time.

Mandy Truscott:
Well, that's why we say like they've landed on grade level. They do this like jump and I was like, it's like a little hyper speed. They're in hyperdrive and they eventually can get there, but they have to put in the time and effort.

Anthony Godfrey:
So I'm excited to hear that you got this award, Mandy. Congratulations.

Mandy Truscott:
Thank you. It was really exciting.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about your loot. What did you get as a part of this prize?

Mandy Truscott:
There was a thousand dollars to use in my classroom, which was really nice.

Anthony Godfrey:
Great.

Mandy Truscott:
We got tickets to the Jazz game. There were six of us. We gotta stay in the suite, which was really nice as well.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow.

Mandy Truscott:
And a personalized Jazz jersey, so that was really exciting as well.

Anthony Godfrey:
Really?

Mandy Truscott:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow.

Mandy Truscott:
I know. My husband's like,’ let's frame it so you can put it in your classroom.’ And I think we might, cause I don't think I'm gonna be wearing it any time, so.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love that. And you can sign the jersey for yourself.

Mandy Truscott:
There you go. I could do that.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me, you and I worked together a long time ago.

Mandy Truscott:
Yes. Very long.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yes. A very long time ago. Most of your career ago, I think. You're teaching reading?

Mandy Truscott:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
And tell me about that. What do you love about teaching reading?

Mandy Truscott:
I love teaching reading. So I teach remedial reading. So they're kids that are not on grade level, but they don't qualify necessarily for resource services or special ed services. But they definitely still need some help to get caught up. So we kind of catch them, they get put in my class and then that's what we work on, just trying to get them up to proficient grade level.

Anthony Godfrey:
And I can't think of a teacher who would do a better job of making kids feel great about being in the class that is intended to help them catch up.

Mandy Truscott:
It's something they struggle with, so it's not their favorite class.

Anthony Godfrey:
Sure.

Mandy Truscott:

But I feel like they do, they do like the class. We have a good repertoire, we have a good relationship.

Anthony Godfrey:
I'm sure that part of the reward is seeing the impact on a student realizing they can do something they didn't think they were ever going to be good at.

Mandy Truscott:
Yeah. It's really exciting to see them make so much progress. So we have like this wall of fame, which you're not in the classroom so you can't see it, but we have this wall of fame where like the kids' names get on the board when they level up, when they increase in grade levels, when they get on grade level. We do a lot of incentives to try and motivate them to do that, and it's really exciting to see. So we always are just pushing them to get on grade level. That's our main purpose.

Anthony Godfrey:
Let's look, take us on a tour around your classroom. So I see amazing things happen here. And names of the kids that have landed on grade level.

Mandy Truscott:
Yeah, so those are the students who at the beginning of the year were below grade level, but they have since reached all the benchmarks to prove that they are on grade level. And then we have four other sections in the classroom. So the first time they level up or the first time they go up one grade level, they get their name in the ‘I've leveled up one reading level’ column, and then there's a two reading levels, a three reading levels, and a four or more reading levels. And you can see there's 20 kids already who are on the four or more reading levels. I think that like the numbers may be a little misleading. I think some of those kids, they didn't try super hard on the initial assessment.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

Mandy Truscott:
Which, you know, surprise, surprise. But they do see this progress. And even if they're making progress on lower levels or levels that may be a little bit below where they should be they're feeling success. And that initial success I think helps them for when they do start to encounter more challenging work and more challenging curriculum.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love how visual the progress is. Student progress is just right out there for everybody to see. And I have no doubt that it's motivating. Tell me about the planets or the moons that the astronauts have landed on, on this wall.

Mandy Truscott:
I tried to really focus on creating a class community. So I did this like a space theme this year. So we have a little planet up there. I don't know if you can see it very well, but it says JPJ 112. My classroom is room 112.

Anthony Godfrey:
Ah, nice.

Mandy Truscott:
So I told them that we are like a class colony and so each student in my class has a little astronaut on the board and in that astronaut, or on the moon I should say, below the astronaut, it lists information about them. So they gotta tell me who they are at the beginning of the year, and that was really helpful. They did that the very first week of school. So I didn't know them very well, but I was able to take that information and they also filled out like this little star cadet intake form that they filled out so I could learn more about them and what motivated them, what they disliked, anything they wanted to tell me basically.

Anthony Godfrey:
What have some of your themes been over the years?

Mandy Truscott:
Oh, besides my space theme? I did an emoji theme one year. But I really like the space theme. I think I'm gonna stick with it.

Anthony Godfrey:
Might stay with it.

Mandy Truscott:
Okay. Yeah. So, we talked about how our learning objective is our mission objective. So we have that over here. Instead of the date, we put the star date.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, love that.

Mandy Truscott:
Yeah. Anyways, we did they have these reading response journals, but we call 'em mission log. So they write in their mission log.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh yes.

Mandy Truscott:
They can earn passport stickers for reading different genres. So yeah, anyways, we kind of did this fun space theme. I kinda ran with it.

Anthony Godfrey:
I see a bit of a cat corner that has nothing to do with reading, necessarily.

Mandy Truscott:
Nothing to do with reading or with space, but I'm a little bit of a cat lady, so we have a little bit of a cat corner going on.

Anthony Godfrey:
I respect that. I respect that.

Mandy Truscott:
The kids will draw me pictures of cats occasionally.

Anthony Godfrey:
They know what you like. That’s a good thing.

Mandy Truscott:
Yeah. They know.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me, what was it that initially drew you to teaching?

Mandy Truscott:
I don't, it's kind of a weird story. I did not get my bachelor's degree in teaching. I got my bachelor's degree in political science and I was initially going to join the foreign service, is what I had wanted to do. I interned in DC in the Department of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the State Department. And I became interested in education doing that. And then I came back to Utah, which is where I'm from. And I started to substitute teach just to make a little bit of money and I liked it. And I got a job as a para. And then I decided to go back to school and get a graduate degree in education.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I'm very grateful to whoever was sick and needed you as a substitute.

Mandy Truscott:
It was a roundabout way of doing it, but I'm glad I did it. I feel like it was definitely meant to be, definitely what has become my passion and it became my passion really quickly. So I was a paraprofessional in a special education classroom, and so I initially did special education, I did that for eight years and then I transferred over to general ed and now doing remedial reading in general education.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, having worked with you many moons ago, it's no surprise to me that you won this award and I'm really glad to see that you're still teaching and these are some lucky kids.

Mandy Truscott:
Thank you. Thank you very much.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us. When we come back, we'll hear from Most Valuable Educator Charity Horne.

Break:
Does your student want to become a veterinarian? Commercial pilot? Programmer? Maybe they want to make a difference as a dental assistant. These are just some of the programs offered as part of Career and Technical Education. CTE in Jordan School District. CTE provides the technical skills needed to prepare students for future employment or for a successful transition to post-secondary education. Career and Technical Education provides work-based learning opportunities. We partner with industry experts to offer apprenticeships and internships with students working in the real world at real jobs while going to school. The CTE experience starts in our elementary schools with the Kids' Marketplace and grows through middle and high school. To explore all CTE has to offer in Jordan School District visit cte.jordandistrict.org today and let's get your child started on the pathway to a profession.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're here at Mountain Point Elementary and we have Principal Elizabeth Felt here and Charity Horne, the Most Valuable Educator award winner. We're gonna talk with Charity about her experience, but first Elizabeth, tell me about Charity Horne as a teacher.

Elizabeth Felt:
I can't stop saying wonderful things about Charity. Charity is one of those bright lights here at Mountain Point. She is one of those teachers that goes above and beyond for every single student here in the building. She is well known by all of our parents. She is a cheerleader for everybody. She's in the hall constantly sharing just exciting things that are going on in her classroom. And when she goes out for bus duty, she's the most cheerful person out there. She is waving people down to get them down the lane to pull forward and people love it. They smile at her, which is a great thing.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now that is a remarkable accomplishment. I've worked the curb at elementary schools over the years. That is not a place where love is shared very much. So that's pretty exciting. And from the moment I walked in, I could tell the energy that she has.

Elizabeth Felt:
Absolutely.

Anthony Godfrey:
Charity, tell me about winning this award. How did all that come to be?

Charity Horne:
Well, I got an email and I thought it was spam and I thought, ‘Oh, this has to be a joke.’ So I responded and just said, ‘Hey, is this for real?’ And she responded and said, ‘Yes it is. And you were nominated by some parents for the award and one of the nominations stood out to us. So we chose you.’

Anthony Godfrey:
How nice to be nominated. Now, it's never fun to talk about yourself.

Charity Horne:
No.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me what were some of the nominations? Elizabeth, did you get a chance to read those?

Elizabeth Felt:
No, I actually didn't because, like Charity, I thought it was spam. I hadn’t heard of it before.

Anthony Godfrey:
When you get an email that says you won and it has all these exclamation points, you do wonder.

Elizabeth Felt:
Yeah. So I remember debriefing with Charity in the hall and we're like, ‘Did you get this email?’ ‘Yeah, I got this email.’ ‘What do you think we should do?’ ‘Is this real?’ Yeah. And so then when we reached out and we were like,’ okay, I think they wanna do something. So I don't know what that looks like because they're not really sure what it looks like.’ So we're like, okay, well let's just go for a ride and it's gonna be great. We’ll see how it goes.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you thought they were fake prizes at first?

Charity Horne:
Totally. Totally.

Anthony Godfrey:
But what were the real prizes that you ended up winning as a result?

Charity Horne:
Well, I earned a thousand dollars. And then I got to go to the Jazz game with my family and take my boys and we went and got in the suite. Then they gave me a Jazz jersey and the Jazz Bear came to our school and recognized me on stage.

Anthony Godfrey:
A personalized Jazz jersey from what I've heard.

Charity:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. And what's the Jazz bear like close up?

Charity Horne:
He is fun.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah?

Charity Horne:
Yeah. Yeah. He messed with my hair.

Anthony Godfrey:
Does he smell kind of earthy?

Charity Horne:
Ah, you know, I was so nervous. I didn't notice.

Anthony Godfrey:
So they honored you on the floor during a Jazz game?

Charity Horne:
Yes. They honored me on the floor during the Jazz game as well.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's pretty exciting.

Charity Horne:
It was so awesome.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now tell me what grade you teach first of all.

Charity Horne:
First grade. I teach first grade.

Anthony Godfrey:
First grade. That's awesome. What do you love about teaching first grade?

Charity Horne:
Honestly, just the innocence of the kids. They're just, they're so excited to be here. They're so excited. They just love you no matter what, you know? And they don't judge you. I mean, you cannot comb your hair and it won't matter. You know, adults tend to judge.

Anthony Godfrey:
But they notice everything about you too don’t they?

Charity Horne:
They do. They notice it all. They do. And I'm like, you know what? It's okay. I didn't do, my hair today. Okay, Mrs. Horne

Anthony Godfrey:
So did they ever say ‘What's wrong, Mrs. Horne?’ when you thought you were covering it up?

Charity Horne:
No, but they have pointed out blemishes or zits or anything that's wrong with you.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you have to go in ready a little bit?

Charity Horne:
A little bit, yeah. But they don't care. I mean, they're just, they're excited to be here.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. Now how long have you taught first grade?

Charity Horne:
I've been teaching first grade for six years. This is my sixth year in first grade. And I've taught two years of second grade.

Anthony Godfrey:
So two years of second grade, six years of first grade. How many hugs does that equal over those years?

Charity Horne:
Millions.

Anthony Godfrey:
Millions of hugs.

Charity Horne:
It’s a lot of hugs.

Anthony Godfrey:
That is the good part.

Charity Horne:
Because they move on, but they still love you, so they still come back and hug you.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, so it's not just the hugs when they're there.

Charity Horne:
No.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's the after-hugs.

Charity Horne:
Yeah. That's my older students.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's pretty exciting.

Charity Horne:
It's awesome.

Anthony Godfrey:
What would you say to someone who's thinking about teaching elementary school?

Charity Horne:
Honestly, it's a hard job, but you have to have, your heart's gotta be in it. You gotta wanna make a difference and you gotta love helping little kids.

Anthony Godfrey:
What's one of your favorite things to teach in first grade?

Charity Horne:
I like teaching math.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah?

Charity Horne:
Math.

Anthony Godfrey:
What are some of the math skills that first graders are learning right now?

Charity Horne:
Adding and subtracting within 20, learning to make a 10, regroup.

Anthony Godfrey:
Regrouping. Yeah. I try to regroup as much as I can. It's good.

Charity Horne:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's a good skill to have.

Charity Horne:
It's a good skill to have.

Anthony Godfrey:
What drew you to teaching initially?

Charity Horne:
Well, I graduated with education and back then, it was too much work, so I was like, ‘I'm not gonna be a teacher. There's no way. It's so much work.’ But so, and quickly after that, I got pregnant with twins. So my life changed to mommy mode and I ended up opening up a daycare and was gonna do a tumbling studio, and all these different branches of life going different directions. And when my daycare kids had kind of moved on and I decided to look at the school and just see if there was a part-time aide position. And I got hired as a math aide. And my Principal at the time, Mandy Thurman, called me and said, ‘Hey, I hired you as a math aide, but I talked to the district about reactivating your license. I really need teachers. What do you think? I think you'd be great.’ And thought about it. And it was just a gut feeling that it was something I needed to do. So I did it and it was a thousand times harder than it was back then.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, it does get harder over time.

Charity Horne:
It does get harder over time, but I think that that hard work just makes you a better person and a better teacher. You'll learn from mistakes, you'll learn from positives, you learn from everything and you just become better. So one of the things I love, I came up with it a couple of years ago. I had heard another teacher was doing it and I thought it was phenomenal, but teaching kids that they can do hard things. And so I came up with a motto that I wanted them to say every morning. And it goes, ‘I can do hard things. I know if I think positive, work hard, and try my best, I will succeed. I believe in myself, I can do anything.’ And it's kind of one of those things that I want them to know. Know that like even in life, not just first grade, life gets hard sometimes. And if you work hard and you just do the best you can, you know you're gonna succeed.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love that. And I'll bet they remember it years later.

Charity Horne:
I have kids, a girl that I taught in first grade at Riverton Elementary goes to school here, I think she's in sixth grade and she's like, ‘Hey Mrs. Horne, how are you? I remember our motto.’ So she still remembers it.

Anthony Godfrey:
And then she recites it for you.

Charity Horne:
Yeah. Well, it was funny cuz I actually went running with one of my first grade parents. And we were going around the track and I hate running, I hate cardio. And so I'm just like, ‘I can't do this.’ And she's like, ‘I can do hard things.’ So we just started running and we were doing the motto. She was like, ‘See, it works for adults too.’ So I just think it's a strong quality that I have just for anybody. Like you can do it. You know, our first reaction is sometimes, ah, that's too hard. I can't do it. But if you just learn that you can do whatever you put your mind to, if you keep working on it, you'll get it.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love that. I would assume that as a first grade teacher, you get to see a ton of progress.

Charity Horne:
Absolutely.

Anthony Godfrey:
From the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

Charity Horne:
That's probably one of my favorite things about first grade, I feel like I do such incredible work. Because if you look at their beginning of the year tests and handwriting and writing journals, and then you go to the end and I'm like, holy cow. I taught them. You know, as a team, we work together to teach narrative, informative, and opinion writing. They can add and subtract. They're just, they're just bright little humans.

Anthony Godfrey:
A school supervisor showed me the other day, what a first grade student had done over the course of the year. They were so excited for the progress they'd made. And they showed, you know, the writing that they did at the beginning of the year and the writing they're doing now. And it's really cool to see, this huge progress kids make.

Charity Horne:
It’s incredible. They make a ton of progress. And even with reading, I mean, they're barely connecting those sounds and letters and putting 'em together. And by the end, they're reading full passages.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, thanks for spending the time, and most of all, thanks for everything you do to help create a great experience for these first graders.

Charity Horne:
Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

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.