Storytelling, Moviemaking, and an Engaged Classroom with Jessica Pack

What's going on everybody? I hope this finds you striving and thriving and doing absolutely amazing. My name is Brian Martin. I'm a second grade teacher and host of the teaching champions podcast. And today we're joined by Jessica Pat. She's taught middle school for 18 years. She was the 2014, California Teacher of the Year. She works continuously to redefine what learning looks like in her classroom. She's the author of the book moviemaking in the classroom. She's an advocate for student voice and choice. And she's also a co host on the podcast, storytelling saves the world, and the SD edge. Now if you think someone would benefit from this conversation, please share this podcast is all about supporting, encouraging and lifting each other up. And by sharing this podcast, you're helping to amplify the voices of some pretty amazing educators. And in this episode, listen, as Jessica explains the power behind making movies and storytelling within the classroom. Listen, as she shares tips on how to get started and strategies that we can use to implement moviemaking inside the classroom. Listen, as she talks about the golden share, creating spaces where students are seen and valued, the power of collaboration, and recognizing that everyone has a story to share. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. I am super excited for this episode, because today, we have a superstar with us. I want to welcome Jessica Pat to the teaching champions podcast. Jessica, welcome my friend. Thank you so much. This is gonna be a good one, Jessica, for those people who are not familiar with you. Do you mind sharing a little bit about your journey? Absolutely. My name is Jessica capac. And I have been a middle school teacher for 18 years. I mostly teach language arts and social studies. But I also am very fortunate to teach video production as well. I'm a former California Teacher of the Year and an author of moviemaking in the classroom, lifting student voices through digital storytelling. I am also a amateur podcaster certainly not as polished as you are, but I do love talking to teachers and hearing their stories as well. Now well, first off, I want to say that you are phenomenal podcaster you know, you definitely have that nice rhythm and the best jingle to start a podcast out there. I will say that it is phenomenal. Now I know that you just went on summer break, I got a week or two left. And one thing I'm starting to look back and reflect upon the year and ways that I want to get better. And two things that really jumped out at me that you know, I look and I wish I made a little bit bigger strides that I'm hoping you can help me with today is number one engagement. Number two is expanding the classroom, making it so the students stories, or their learning can be shared outside of just the walls of our classroom. And I think your expertise can share so much of that because you have a book moviemaking in the classroom, you present all over about this. Can you just tell everyone? Why is this so powerful? Well, I think moviemaking is powerful because it's kind of the zone in which our kids live. A lot of them are on social media, in particular Tik Tok, and just you know, having that, as an ever present part of their lives, they're already naturally really interested in content creation. So, you know, part of the challenge of every teacher everywhere who's integrating technology is shifting kids, from consumers to producers. And movie making is a really great way to do that and also create just a really compelling learning experience for kids when they're in the classroom. So for me, movie making has really been a pillar of my instruction for, you know, 1516 years at this point. And the reason that it is still so important to me is the effect that I see that it has on my students and their learning. What let's start like looking at a bird's eye view. What are Some of the things that your students are doing in the class with that movie making? Well, so I teach two different subject areas. And often it makes sense to me to use moviemaking as an assessment. So being able to take content that we've learned, for example, early man, and then the story of hunter gatherers, and just the idea of early human migration and adaptation, taking all of that information that might otherwise be a little bit dry, or not necessarily a student's, you know, first choice to learn about no matter how much I love history, but being able to teach them to Storify that content so that it becomes very compelling for them. So I use a lot of grip templates and lesson frames to help them do that in the beginning. But if we're coming back to moviemaking, at the close of every unit, or every other unit, students get really good at making movies and they have some really fantastic ideas that they want to put out in the world. Absolutely. Now teaching sixth grade, the middle school, how many videos would you say you do throughout the course of the year? I definitely think like in terms of this is something everybody's doing probably somewhere between seven or eight. But if you know with, with universal design for learning, it's often a option that I provide for a way to express learning. Like if a student is really into the movie making, they can conceivably make you know, a dozen movies a year if they're consistently choosing that option, which a lot of kids do, because they enjoy seeing their products get better. And I think that's one of the really, you know, powerful parts of Making movies is you start to understand the language of film and kind of the way shots are put together and the way a narrative is crafted. And the more you you know, play in that sandbox, the more you understand the role that emotion plays in moviemaking and how to incite emotion and others and, you know, put your own emotion into the work that you're creating as well. Yes. And there's a lot of brain science behind like the power of moviemaking? No. Can you share a little bit about that with us? Yeah, a lot of the brain science is in connection to storytelling. So moviemaking is just one modality for digital storytelling. Podcasting is another comic books, you know, digital imagery, there's so many different avenues you can take. But what all of them have in common is that heart of storytelling. And, you know, storytelling helps create sticky learning, which is my favorite thing ever. It's every teacher's favorite thing. But literally, like when you're interacting in a storytelling environment, your brain starts to produce chemicals that lend themselves really well to the formation of memory. So your brain in a stratified place can produce cortisol, which a little bit of cortisol is a good thing. You know, we only hear about this the bad parts, but a little bit of cortisol actually helps us formulate long term memories. It also can produce, you know, dopamine, which is associated with our level of engagement in a task. And then it also produces different chemicals that are associated with empathy and being able to, you know, put yourself into the shoes of someone else. So all of those chemicals work together to create that sticky learning experience that years later, we remember. And I know my kids remember it, because my former students are always sending me a DM on Instagram saying, Hey, can we have lunch? I really want to catch up with you. Do you remember that time we made that movie? That's awesome. Yeah. So I think that all of that brain science is really helpful to understand. And just knowing that narrative provides a framework for everything that we learn, if you think of the different stories that you've heard throughout your lifetime. And that can be sort of broadly classified as story. I like to think of it as like an infrastructure in a building. And every time we hear another story that you know, we either create, or that we interact with, we're adding another layer of building material to that framework. So it's a lot easier for us to take new content, we're learning and assimilate it into what we already know and understand, based on the stories that we've already heard. So I definitely think that there's a lot of compelling reasons to integrate storytelling in the learning environment. And that's probably why I keep coming back to it time and again, so good. Now, I was reading your book and I talked about I wanted to be more engaging. I wanted to break down the walls of the classroom a little bit. Where I fell short and I saw that you listed like three barriers that stop teachers from incorporating digital storytelling moviemaking into the classroom, we talked about like time, technology, and truth. Can you dive into that a little bit? Because I read those. And I was like, yep, yep, yep. And how can we get past those three small barriers? Well, I think the first barrier that I hear most often from teachers and workshops is time. And we all know that time is a very precious commodity for every educator, no matter what grade level or content area. And there's generally a concern by teachers that moviemaking is like a really fun activity you could do after testing. Because that's when you have time and very little oversight, right. But I would contend that it belongs in every unit that we teach all along the way throughout the year. And you know, you can make movies and in an efficient, effective manner that doesn't consume weeks at a time, because a lot of times people hear movie and they think, Oh, I'm going to need to block out two to three weeks for that, that's going to take a long time, I could just do this smaller project instead. And that will take like two days, you know, so I think we're always evaluating the things that we do with students for the amount of time we have to invest. And one of the things I love about moviemaking is that you can really structure kids for success using lesson frames, or script templates in the beginning, so that they really understand how to structure a narrative about what they're learning. And that makes them very efficient storytellers. Because how many times have we asked kids to write something and they just sort of stare at us like, I don't know what to write. There's that burden, right with coming up with a good story. And you're just like, if you're a reluctant writer, or a reluctant reader, or maybe you know, an English learner student who doesn't feel comfortable with, you know, the grasp of language yet, then maybe you need a little support in that realm. And so all of that kind of contributes to the efficiency of moviemaking. And the effectiveness comes into play. Because the more opportunities for movie making that we provide students, the faster they get at the process. So the first time that I make movies with kids, it might take like three full class periods, which for me is about an hour, right. But by the time we've done our second or third rep of that particular lesson frame or script template, you know, kids get really fast at the creative process, and really, really good. So, you know, movie making doesn't have to be this ponderous activity that we only build into the end of the year, it can be a really great way to get a read on what students understand. Yes, absolutely. And I think that that's the key right there. Like in the beginning is always difficult. For a novice like myself, that's just starting out, it's gonna be a little muddy. But the more you do it, the more reps that you get, the easier it's going to become, the quicker the students are going to be. Come at it. I think I was reading your book, and you talked about maybe going into a kindergarten classroom? And would you mind explaining that? Yeah, you know, I was really fortunate for about a decade to work with a nonprofit here in Southern California called Digicam learning. And my role was as a teacher consultant. So in addition to my regular classroom work, I also would take days out of the classroom to go to other districts and, you know, scaffold their storytelling teachers, help provide, you know, lesson planning ideas, and then also do some observations. And I will never forget visiting a kindergarten classroom where storytelling was happening right there in front of me. And I never would have thought that kindergarteners were able to be so quick at the moviemaking process, but they had, you know, their magic carpet circle time with their words in the week on a chart and kids were able to with tablets type in, you know, the word that they were looking for, which at the time was Gingerbread, because that was the time of year. And they were able to save the image to the camera roll open iMovie, drop the image into iMovie, record a voiceover, add some music, like all of these are pretty sophisticated things that I would have prior to seeing that would have thought, okay, a second grader can do this. But kindergarteners can do it because I was talking to the teacher and she said it's part of their weekly routine. It's something they do every week, they pick one word from the word list and they make a movie. And I think that that's really really good information for us to have as teachers along the rest of the grade level spectrum. Just understand thinking that there's nothing our kids can't do if we scaffold it effectively and make it part of their learning routine? Yeah, is such an important reminder. Because we do we put up those barriers, we say it can't be done before we even try it. Or we try it one time. And we say, No, that's no good. But yeah, when you look, and you see kindergarteners doing it, the youngest, the five year olds are able to do it, then yes, all of our students can incorporate that. So we've eliminated the barriers. Now, where do I start, I think the place to start is just picking a segment from your instruction that you want to formatively assess. And then, you know, using a script template to help kids Storify the content. So as one of my favorite script templates is an im poem. Lots of teachers are familiar with bio poems, and im poems, it's a way that we use to get to know our kids at the start of the year. So maybe that's where you start is in the beginning of the year, your kids right, and I am poem or bio poem about themselves. And that literally becomes the script for the movie. So then every line, you know, like I am, Jessica, then I would show a picture of me. And then the next line, if it was, you know, I smell brownies baking in the oven, then I show a picture of brownies baking in the oven. And so it's just teaching kids that agreement, whatever I'm hearing is what I want to see. And everyone's an expert on themselves. So it's a great idea to start with that the first couple of weeks of school, and then at the end of your first unit of study, do an I am poem again. But this time about the character from a book, or this time about early people and prehistoric man and the hunter gatherer lifestyle. So that's kind of where I recommend teachers start is with something that we already understand well, that we can translate into a story. Yeah. Now what type of technology do you have to use for this? Well, I mean, there's a lot of different options. Depending on what teachers have access to, that can also be a barrier. It's just the amount of technology that teachers have access to. Although I wouldn't say post pandemic, I think I was reading that like 91% of students have access to one to one devices across our country just out of necessity. So this can be a great way to leverage that my students have one to one Chromebooks. But I've also done moviemaking in environments with shared iPads, shared laptops, I had a bring your own device pilot one year, and we still found a way to make movies. So it really can be done with whatever kids have. I know, my seventh and eighth graders love their cell phones. So if they want to use iMovie on their phone, and I don't have any other way to provide access to that, then they can like there's different modalities and technologies kids are familiar with. And the older they are, the more it might be more appropriate for them to use those personal technologies. But you know, there's a lot of free platforms out there for video editing. Adobe Express is a great option. Animoto is another option. Canva has a video production movie making area. Wii video is my personal favorite. So there's lots of different ways that we can leverage free tools or freemium tools, and the technology that's already in kids hands. Yes. If I'm a teacher, that's never edited a video before. Like, What's that process like? Well, so the most important thing to remember is agreement, which if you're saying something, or we're hearing it from a voiceover, then that's what we need to see. So Adobe's Xpress is a great way to start with that, because that editor is very simplistic. You add an image, and then you record a voiceover for that image. So you, you know, put something from their stock library that makes sense to the story that you're telling. And then just record the voiceover for that one and that time. So if I'm a novice teacher, that might be an area that I explore first. I know a lot of teachers use Canva education accounts and have their kids sign up in Canva, within their Canva classroom, that's a very similar editor, where you're adding a slide at a time and then recording your voice. So I definitely think that technology is accessible. And it's kind of just a matter of diving in and being willing to fail forward and also knowing that your kids know how to do this stuff way better than you do. Yes, no. Absolutely. It's funny. We had a field trip the other day, and we're getting on the bus and the bus drivers coming back out. screen my kids for help on his cell phone. Because, you know, he didn't know how to operate some of the different apps and everything these kids grow up on it and very fluent with it. Absolutely. Like I was reading an article the other day that was talking about how kids need to be taught now how not to engage with technology, and how to be able to like step back from mobile devices, because they've never known a time where they didn't have access to those things. Whereas those of us who are older, we remember running hard with nothing, you know? Yes. Absolute Absolutely. Now, the storytelling process, because there's a process and there's such beauty in telling stories. How do you go about like, really developing that in your students? Well, I think helping them understand that everything starts with writing, it has to start with a script, your script is your passport to the creative world of actually editing everything together, or filming original content, if that's the direction you're going. But without a script, you're kind of dead in the water. And I think that that's, you know, a barrier teachers have talked to me about before, too, with like, how do I get kids going? And how do I, you know, force them to write a script, and I'm like, Well, you're not really forcing them a script template and help them understand sort of the rhythm of story. So you know, Pixar shorts are a great example to teach kids, the emotional rhythm of story, because emotion is what contributes to making our learning sticky, right. So we always remember the memories best that have that emotional impact for us. So teaching them that a story has three parts, and that in the first section, you're kind of establishing, you know, on the surface information, or kind of the existing state of being for a character. And then there's complications that arise. And that's kind of the middle part. And then the end, which I like to refer to as the triumph of the human spirit moment, or the deepest information that you're sharing. That kind of comes at the end when you're emotionally ready for it, because you've already been on the journey with the character from the beginning to the middle to the end. So that universal story structure or that three act story, we see it in everything, we see it all the way from like tick tock videos that are 30 seconds long, to Pixar shorts to the to our movie to a novel that we're reading. So I think being able to talk about that emotional current can be really transformative in terms of what kids create. Absolutely. And as a loved one, in your book, you talked about like the golden share. Yeah. Do you dive into that for a little bit? For sure. You know, truth is a barrier teachers experience too, in terms of I can't get my kids to tell something worthwhile, or how do I get them to dive deeper with the personal stories that are sharing. And so the philosophy I've kind of developed is the idea of the Golden share. And that is that I will always share some of my writing and my storytelling, before I ask kids to do a task. So my favorite prompt that we get to at the end of the year is tell me something I don't know about you. Tell me a story about you that I just have no frame of reference for. And I've had kids, you know, tell really compelling personal stories over the years. But I also tell them mine first. So there's that vulnerability of being able to see this is where my teacher is coming from. If she can share that, then I can certainly share what I want to share. So one of my favorite golden shares over the years was talking about how after my mom passed away, I had all of these questions that nobody could answer, and only my mom could answer, because, you know, I don't have any other surviving family members, except for my dad, right? And there were questions I had about her lifetime or her experiences that I would just have to kind of make up the answers on my own or just be left wondering. And so I wrote a script about that and shared it with my kids. And they were just like, blown away that a teacher would share something so personal, in the context of you know, what I was asking them to do. And so the things I got in return were like these incredible stories about you know, one student wrote about how his mother had breast cancer and what it was like to watch her continue working in the hair salon that she ran throughout her treatment, and you know, just being inspired by his mom. Another student wrote about a miscarriage that his family had experienced and what it was like to have a sibling that they didn't get to know and kind of how they were processing that grief story. Another student write about what it was like to kind of break down barriers of body type expectations. As a Filipino young woman, like embracing herself, and how she looked and being proud of her culture and her own personal identity, so those stories that we might not expect from a middle schooler, are really powerful, poignant things that kids want to share, they just have to feel safe enough and valued enough to share those things. And so that's where my philosophy comes in, of being willing to share myself with them so that they'll share themselves with me. Ah, you know, that is so powerful when you say they need to feel safe enough and valued enough. And whether we, you know, we, we dive into that movie making, which we all should, or not, like creating that environment where each and every single one of our kids that they can come and they feel safe, and they feel valued, and that you sold your vulnerability so they can open themselves up. I think that's amazing. Yeah, well done, my friend thinks, you know, I think our kids bring a lot of baggage into the classroom, that if we just show up and teach lessons every day, and that's the extent of what we do as educators, we would never know about the things that they carry with them. So I definitely think that it is valuable and transformative and necessary to get to know our kids on a human level. Absolutely. And this gives them the opportunity to share the voice and probably, because not every kid is really outgoing. You know, there's different different levels, how do the students that maybe are a little bit shy? Or how do how's this help them. So some of the best story products, and some of the most personal stories that I seen from kids over the years have been from the quiet kids. And I would say that I myself was a quiet kid. And so you know, if I could express myself in a way that wasn't in front of everyone, that was a good thing for me. So I can really empathize with those kids who maybe don't want to be the center of attention. They're not comfortable talking with, you know, maybe adults or even their peers, but they still have an inner life that's really rich and has lots of dimension to it. And they do want to share, they do want to connect with others, they just need an entry point that is more comfortable for them. So a lot of those stories over the years have been from the quiet kids. So that's so good. Now, we talked about breaking down these walls, what do you do with these movies after they're created? So my school district has an opt out technology policy. So parents can fill out a form if they don't want their students post work posted on the internet. And very few parents do, because most of the students who come to my classroom have already consumed my YouTube channel, which has like a decade of content from kids on it. And they're already excited, like, what are we going to make our first movie, this is going to be amazing, I already have ideas. So that's really been a fun way to put students stories out there and also preserve them for like a legacy effect. So I'm definitely a fan of giving kids that authentic audience and that ability to post their work online so that others can see it and be inspired by it. And whenever we get a tweet from other classrooms or other teachers, where they're like, Hey, we watch this, now we're trying this too. I always share it with my kids so that they can see Oh, wow. Like we're making a difference by sharing our stories. So globally. Yeah. That's awesome. And I think you know what, such a powerful way to show the power of storytelling and engagement and excitement that builds then these kids showing up to you on day one, saying, Come on there. Let's get it started. I got all these ideas for that movie making. So that's just a great testament to the power of moviemaking. Well, and this year, I had my students create a sixth grade Survival Guide movie before they left so that on day one next year, my new students can watch their survival guides and get some tips and tricks from the experts. Cuz a scary place for sixth graders to start out at, but you know, for them to be able to start with those stories. And then, you know, think of themselves as Oh, this is going to be something I do this year. What will I create? I'm so excited for that. Awesome, and this is so good. Now, is there one tip that for the person that I didn't question I didn't ask about movie making that I should have told you or that you think it would benefit someone? Well, I would just say to be brave as a teacher and to admit that you maybe aren't an expert on moviemaking, and that's okay. And to jump in anyway, like dive in the deep end and don't look back your kids, no matter who they are, no matter where they are, no matter what grade level content area demographic, they have something important to say. And all we have to do as teachers is open that door to storytelling for them. And they'll do all the rest, they'll do the hard work, they'll know how to use the video editors, they'll figure out all the tricks that we never could as adults. And I think that that's a really great testament to just having that autonomy and purpose for learning that we hunger for as individuals. So don't look back, dive in the deep end and reach out for help, if you need it. Awesome. Awesome. Now let's switch over a little bit to SD. And I'm, you know, a little sad to admit this. But up until probably about last year, I really wasn't too familiar with SD. And then I, you know, I started seeing stuff pop up on Twitter all about it. And then I saw all of this information about last year's event at in New Orleans for 2022. I know that SD 2023 is coming up, you are going to be presenting multiple sessions on there. For the people that aren't familiar with SD, would you mind sharing a little bit about that? Absolutely. Um, SD is my favorite community ever. It stands for International Society of technology and education. And it is a really fantastic network to be a part of, because they're just, you know, it's global for one. So there's educators from all over the world who participate in different, you know, modalities and ISTE. So whether it's on the message boards, or at the conferences, or expert webinars or meetups, there's all different ways to connect with people from literally all over and share your best ideas, your best practices, ask questions. It's just a really invaluable place for me as a teacher to push myself to learn more, and to also be able to reach out and say, here's an idea I have, how could you make it better? Or what do you see happening with this idea, because I think it's always good for us to create in tandem with others, as opposed to just being a silo. So for me is D provides the opportunity to be part of the community. And it just happens to involve edtech, which I love. Yes, absolutely. The Wii is always greater than the me the more that we can pull other people in, brainstorm feed off of each other, the ideas are just gonna blossom. Now, you know, I said, that is the New Orleans 2022 11,000 People I can't even imagine, was there one or two things that you really took away from, like one or two ideas that you remember off the cuff? Yeah, for sure. There were lots of ideas. But I remember that hallway conversations and playground opportunities where you get to like, try out the technology, those were the most unexpected places for me to find some really powerful learning. You know, I was just kind of sitting off and on the side. And whenever you're prepping for a session and a couple of book readers came up to me and we started talking. And then the more we talked like, before I knew it, we came up with a new lesson frame for the end of the conversation. So that was a really fun option. And then I went to some Creative Labs where they were just talking about the nature of creativity, and how to infuse that into learning. And give kids the opportunity again to create instead of just consume, which I think is a shift that a lot of classrooms struggle with. So I'm very excited always to sit at the feet of great minds and listen and learn. Awesome, and we're a week away from 2023. In Philadelphia, we said you're going to be presenting multiple times. Is there a session or two that you've mapped out that you want to go and check out? Oh 100%, I signed up for creation lab with some really fantastic podcasters because I'd like to learn to use stream yard. And then I signed up for another creation lab with Amanda Fox and Erica Sandstrom, who's also known as the Green Screen gal, and there'll be doing some movie making in the multiverse. I was like hooked by that title because I'm a big fan of Marvel, too. All right, I need to go see what's happening in the multiverse. I know they do a lot with green screen and I'm really excited to expand that skill set for myself. No, those sessions sound phenomenal. Awesome. Now, two of my favorite questions is their book recommendation that you have If or several of you have several, and how about any podcasts recommendations that you might have? Well, every year I listen to Daniel Pink's book drive, which is on the science and the theory of motivation, and how everyone craves mastery, autonomy and purpose. And I always re listen to that book. I think I've heard it a billion times at this point. But I really listened to that to really help me understand the type of classroom climate that I want to strive to create every year. So that's a favorite. Plus, I'm into all the edge protocols, books, and the social studies edition of edgy protocols was just released a couple of months ago. So I'm super excited about that. And then podcast wise, I love listening to shake up learning with Casey Bell, just on educational technology. And, you know, kind of keeping up with what she's saying about AI what everyone's saying about AI. That's really awesome. And then I also really like protocols podcast with rebel teacher Alliance. I think they have some great interviews on there, and some really great tips for how to make the leap into edgy protocols. So that's really fun, too. Awesome. Those are some great recommendations. And I was just listening to Daniel Pink on creator Science Podcast. Today. He's phenomenon I've read drive before. And I'm gonna reread that this summer. So thank you for those recommendations. Now, if people want to get in contact with you, if they want to listen to your podcasts or check out your book, what's the best way for them to connect, so listeners can connect with me at PAC woman 208 on Twitter and Instagram. My book is available from SD and Amazon and Barnes and Noble. And it's called movie making in the classroom lifting student voices through digital storytelling. And then lastly, storytelling saves the world.com is the home of my super fun podcast with my friend Georgia. Sir, we talked to storytelling teachers all over to get suggestions for you know, what could work for different storytelling teachers who want to dive in? Yeah, so it's super fun podcast, like I said earlier, the best jingle to start a podcast out there. And you know, the book is fantastic. And I think it's really important for someone like myself, you know, I want to incorporate digital storytelling into the classroom. But it can be overwhelming, it can be scary, and you do a great job of breaking that down giving scripts, and just taking a little bit of that pressure off. So definitely a must read if you want to incorporate that digital storytelling into the classroom. Now, if you could have the listeners walk away with one thing today. What would that be? I think my one thing would be to recognize and value that every single kid has a story. And it's just a matter of figuring out what that story is and giving them the skill set to bring it to life. Because every kid has something to say they just need the opportunity to say, yes, so good, my friend. And Jessica, this has been a true blessing. You are just doing some phenomenal work. And I think the message that you're sharing how you're trying to elevate other educators, and you know what you're doing inside your own classroom. You have these young kids showing up middle school kids showing up in your classroom fired up saying let's get it going. So thank you for all you do my friend. Thank you so much. It's a pleasure. This conversation was so much fun. Jessica has so many amazing ideas. And what she's doing inside her classroom with her students is so good. Now this is a teaching champions take where I share three of my favorite takeaways from this conversation. And the first m that I loved is the idea of the Golden share. Before asking her students to write or create stories about themselves. Jessica says that she takes an opportunity to be vulnerable in front of them to share different stories about her journey. And she talked about how this allowed her to connect with her students. But it also gave her students the space where they feel valued enough and safe enough that they can share their own stories. And that's so powerful. The second gem that I loved was when Jessica encourages us all to be brave and admit we don't know at all. We're not an expert in everything. And that's okay. She encourages us to all dive into moviemaking and understand it might be a little messy in The beginning, as is most things when we're trying something for the first time. But the more we do it, the better we get at it, the more efficient we get at it, and the better and more efficient that our students are going to get at it. And think about this, Jessica teaches middle school students, and she has students showing up to her classroom on the first day of school fired up and wanting to dive right into this. The third gem that I loved is when Jessica talked about the SD community and the power that it brings. And what I truly loved about this is when she talked about when she has an idea, she'll ask them, How can I make this better? Because the group is always better than the individual. And whether it's the it's the community, or any other of the amazing communities that are out there. When we open ourselves up, and we're willing to get feedback from those around us. It's only going to make us shine brighter. And these were just a few of my favorite gems. Let me know on Twitter at be Martin real or Instagram at teaching champions podcast, what were some of your favorite gems. And a big thank you that Jessica for sharing so many amazing takeaways. And a big thank you to all of you for being here for being part of the teaching champions community. We support we encourage we lift each other up. And always remember, it doesn't matter whether you're from rural America, urban America, to Canada to Spain to Bahrain. We're all on that same team. We're all on that same mission. And we're always better together. Keeping amazing my friends and as you go out into the week, May you step into your strength may step into your shine, and let's build our champions. Have a great week, everybody