Relationships That Raise Scores

Welcome From The NCASA Floor

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Welcome to Spotlight for Success with American Book Company. I'm your host, Derek Pintozi, and here we are at the NCASA conference in Wilmington, North Carolina. We're here with our special guest, Saida, and she is the principal of East Lawn Elementary in the ABSS School District. So it's so great to have you here today. Thank you. So what brings you here today?

SPEAKER_00 0:26

So this is one of my very favorite conferences. It specializes in school leaders. I've attended here ever since I was a principal fellow, which was about six, seven years ago. And as an intern learning how to do school leadership, I was able to come to these kinds of conferences.

Relationships Plus Goal Setting

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Great, great. And um, what are some educational uh strategies used in the classroom?

SPEAKER_00 0:49

A lot of um, everybody used the the root word of relationships, but it's bigger than that. It's also relationships speaking into existence of goals. So it's relationships plus goal setting that I love you as an individual, but I also want you to succeed as an individual.

Using ABC Resources To Boost Scores

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Great, great. I love that. And I've I've heard you've used some resources, you've used our resources, American Book Company books. Um, did you see any score improvement and how did you use those books in the classroom?

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Yes, so and that's one of the reasons when I saw Glenn, who I said, ooh, I have an email back in 2015 of Glenn Davenport. And so when I saw it, I said, Yes, I remember purchasing one. So I purchased one. I also had some preview. You know, as a broke teacher, I would take the preview books, see how I was able to use those. Yeah, this was back in the day when we did pen and paper. This wasn't computer-based, so it said preview copy on it. I took all the content that I could and was able to make quizzes and also able to make some intellectual conversations with my students, able to do some peer. Then it yielded gains. So I became a green to blue student, green to blue teacher. So that's part of our EVOS. So the closer you are to get to blue, it's greatness. So then when I was able to show my principal that data, then he said, Okay, well, we need to do a class that have Glenn come and we're gonna go ahead and do an actual accounts payable. So that's how we built that relationship because I took part of his previews as a conference and also as a freebie, and then I was able to go ahead and actually make some games. And from then on, I said I can't get away from ABCs.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Wow, that's amazing. We love to hear that. And um, did you see any score improvement?

SPEAKER_00 2:30

Yes, so that was the that was the biggest one is that I was able to see that level of gain when it came to um so I initially started as a secondary biology teacher and also math teacher. So I took that biology EOC, the ABCs of that biology EOC, and as I was saying, taking that preview copy that had the writing in it, but at that time, once again, I was a broke teacher, and I wanted to take that core content and actually build upon it so I can give my students an opportunity. It also helped to aid to make sure that everything, this was when back when we had textbooks, to make sure that that 500-page textbook was now solidified in the actual working workflow.

The Joy Of Leading Elementary Kids

SPEAKER_01 3:10

Great, right. And what's one of the favorite things you do on your um day-to-day basis?

SPEAKER_00 3:17

Well, being a principal, especially elementary, I just get to love on children in a different capacity. My background is in secondary, so that's a different love. But to actually get 15, 20 hugs for them to say, ooh, you know, as elementary principals, we become superstars. Yeah. So it's always that superstar cake on every single day.

Relevance Over Hype

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Yeah, absolutely. Yes. And do you have any last words for the uh and Castle community?

SPEAKER_00 3:42

I mean, the biggest one, of course, is we try to make sure the content is feasible and relevant. I'm not so much a proponent into uh product, but I know that this one has helped me. So when he mentioned it, I said, let me make sure I at least share the testimony of how it does not matter what level of funding I have, and as I enter the new roles, if I'm a stakeholder, I'm gonna make sure that this product is elevated.

Thanks And Sign Off

SPEAKER_01 4:06

Absolutely, that's inspiring. Well, thank you for coming on our podcast, and we'll catch you guys next time.