Public Education Matters

Transcribed by https://otter.ai. Please excuse any errors.

Intro 0:07
This is Education Matters, brought to you by the Ohio Education Association.

Katie Olmsted 0:15
Thank you for joining us for this edition of Education Matters. I'm Katie Olmsted, part of the communications team for the Ohio Education Association, which represents 120,000k 12 teachers, education support professionals and higher ed faculty members in the state. Of course, for many of those members, education is in their blood, and they are not finished when their careers in the classroom come to an end. So the group OEA retired, or OEA-R helps them continue their work to help Ohio students and public schools through a wide variety of projects and activities. One of them is Read Across America, there is a huge push to make that mission a year round priority. And OEA-R is part of that, thanks to a series of videos available online and on social media now with retired members reading some of their favorite books. Take a listen.

Unknown Speaker 1:14
I wake up in the morning, and I have to go to school. But I can't read. Oh, what shall I do? When all my classmates read out loud? I sit there quietly without a smile. And when my teacher calls on me to read, I say to myself, Oh, no, please. Then one day my teacher introduced me to phonics. From that day on, I knew what I wanted. I wanted to sound out blends and then words. So when I read my voice would be heard.

Katie Olmsted 1:53
That was a few pages from I can't read a What shall I do by Stephen Mitchell and OEA-R member himself. We wanted to learn more about OEA-R. And this Read Across America campaign. So we sat down with OEA-R Vice Chair Phil Long, who retired after 35 and a half years teaching in Salina, Ohio. Phil long, thank you so much for sitting down with us and talking to us about this wonderful campaign. What can you tell me about what our dedicated OEA our members are doing?

Phil Long 2:31
All right, um, well, this year, we're focusing on reading the month of March, although we do actually offer this throughout the year. But we're focusing on March and our theme of celebrate diversity by reading. Our OEA-R members have chosen books. And I'm amazed at a wide variety of topic that they have chosen that covers diversity and our levels, you know, from kindergarten, preschool, kindergarten, I really think that these could be used even in the upper high school grades, as well.

Katie Olmsted 3:23
Now, you mentioned the theme here, celebrate diversity read. For people who've been following along at home NEA recently changed their campaign focus for Read Across America. It used to be all Dr. Seuss branded, and now it is celebrate a nation of diverse readers. And this fits perfectly but you actually were leading the way and your change to this predates any OEA's change?

Phil Long 3:48
Well, yes, actually. And for 2021, we chose the theme of celebrate diversity and the program and services committee of OEA-R chose this theme. And then we found out that we were starting to receive information from NEA R or NEA, and they have had that as well. So it's really

Katie Olmsted 4:17
mind thinking like, right, everyone. Well, I want to talk to you about why you do this. Why is this theme important to you? And why is this something that OEA our members are obviously so passionate about?

Phil Long 4:31
Well, you know, we we sort of operate under the theme once an educator always an educator, and what the OEA-R chair Mary vinegar and I have really tried to do in the last couple of years is provide opportunities to to involve more of our members. And, you know, the reality is not all members. Have a pension for or the political aspect or, you know, other topics. And so, you know, we've really tried to offer various topics of interest to members to become involved in OEA-R. You know, whilst some like to work with the political part, the legislative part, others, the travel, just a variety of things, community service, which of course, are all very important, but we thought by offering reading to students, and I will tell you, our members that have participated have done a super job. This has been a little more challenging the last couple years because they have actually been taping themselves videotaping themselves and submitting that videotape to OEA. Joel Koehler has done a tremendous job helping us translate that video onto Facebook in order to share and make that available to educators. So you know, many of them have said, Oh, I would much rather be going into the classroom and all that. It just because of the pandemic has not worked out that this has been perfect. And the good thing about this project is, all of these books now are in OEA library. So educators can access at any time. As I said before, we see this as a year long project. So you know, even in May or September, OEA members have access to this library and can pull up books to share.

Katie Olmsted 6:55
So this is interesting to me. I started with OEA after the pandemic started, I don't I don't think I realized what this program looked at looked like pre pandemic. How did this get started? And and how has it changed?

Phil Long 7:09
Well, actually, our first year that we were looking at this, we had members that were going into the classroom, and they would be invited in or offered to go into a classroom and read in person. And so as we that was just sort of a trial and error that I know in northeast retired and in western retired, we had members doing that. And then we would have books that we would leave with the teachers, you know as as a thank you and a way of promoting reading. So then as the OEA our program and services committee took this on, we prepared for that. And so through a NEA grant, we were able to purchase several books, that the idea is to, you know, leave those with classrooms once we've read. And so we had to shift gears a little bit. And you know what the pandemic so as I said, we've been doing these on video, we still have the books. I ended up buying a book for each of the 10 districts. And I think we have around 17 or 18 books, that once we go back in person, then that'll be the idea is to share that there's also a nameplate in the book donated by OEA-R. So, you know we've, well, we've just had to be flexible a bit as and as educators, we're, we're used to that.

Katie Olmsted 8:59
Well, and I think that's very fitting considering the flexibility all educators have had to show through this pandemic. There. It seems like there's actually a silver lining to that in that, at least for these last couple of years. You've had just a tremendous reach, whereas maybe would have been in one classroom before. Now you can reach students across the state with this.

Phil Long 9:20
Oh, absolutely. Last year, Joel Koehler kept track and we had like 27,000 hits on our reading from last year. And, you know, I hope we're even increasing that more now this coming year, or the current year.

Katie Olmsted 9:39
What does that mean to you when you hear that number? How does that feel?

Phil Long 9:45
Well, it's very gratifying. You know, anytime you do a project you you want success, of course, and this is definitely an indication that yes, people are using this and I think it really helped the readers last year to realize that the efforts that they made really had paid off, because, as I said, it was a challenge for many of us, you know, to want to videotape ourselves, and then the technology of getting that video transferred, and then hoping that it got to OEA, you know, and was in in usable form. And, and again, our OEA staff have been tremendous, as far as helping to train our readers, you know, on, you know, how to hold their camera, their phone, and, and then you know what avenue to use in order to transfer that to OEA. And if you've seen any of them on Facebook, I think our readers have done a tremendous job. And I think it's, you know, going to be very helpful for educators to use these, you know, if they have that 10 or 15 minutes of lag time, so to speak, if they have this opportunity to click on and hear, you know, someone else reading and coming into their classroom.

Katie Olmsted 11:23
Do you think it speaks to the importance of your theme, the celebrate diversity read theme that this has been so well received?

Phil Long 11:34
Well, I think the variety of diversity that is is shown in our books, you know, not only thinking in terms of maybe more than the obvious diversities of, you know, color, or race religion, but, you know, just the diversity of being the new kid in the on the block, or maybe the child that doesn't look quite the same as others. And several of the books I've noticed in listening, because I make sure I listen to each one of the readers as well, because I want to be able to thank them and know what we have, but you know, just the idea of someone looking different or being a little different, and being included in the community in the classroom. So I think yes, our, our wide range. And, you know, that's something that has just been by chance as well, because we've pretty much let each reader choose the book that they wanted to, as long as it followed the theme. And it's just all over the board. You know, and we really have a wide variety of experiences with that. And I

Katie Olmsted 13:10
think that just makes it that much more valuable to educators across the state and to their students. And I think it's so valuable to have retired members really leading the charge here. What do you want, soon to be retired members to know about what kind of opportunities there are for them, once they're out of their classroom every day?

Phil Long 13:39
Well, there, there really are varieties of activities, you know, not only the Read Across America, which, you know, we are intending to continue on with, we're actually exploring for retirees, educational retirees to be able to give testimony at the the state house or a school board or anywhere that they might find a need. And the thing is educators have that experience. They know what it has been like they they've dealt with some of these issues, and who better to you know, stand up for various issues and all then then retirees and so we're providing training on how they can best do that. Whether they want to do it in person, or if they choose to do a written type testimony. And as we know, there are constantly issues coming before the legislature and the committee hearings where they need testimony on either side it can be pro or against a particular issue, and how it is going to affect education for the future. As I said before, educators once they retire, it's not like they step away from education, I just I really don't think it's possible. Because anytime we hear of something that is going on, that is affecting educators affecting education, students, our ears are there, our hearts are there because we want to make a difference. So speaking to those retire, or people that are getting ready to retire, we welcome them in with open arms, because there's a lot to be done. And I'm, while I'm finding that retirees are extremely busy. They do have a little more flexible time than our active educators that are in the classroom.

Katie Olmsted 16:05
I was just going to point that out. My mom is a retired educator. And she always jokes that she's so busy now, she doesn't know how she ever had time to work in her classroom. Right? Yeah, exactly. The kind of person who who is is a perfect voice for educators, because she sometimes does have time during the day to make it to a legislative hearing or something like that. She's just as passionate as she ever has been. And I think that's the experience of so many other retirees.

Phil Long 16:38
You're exactly right, Katie, and, you know, and there's so many other things, that that's actually something that we're wanting to look out for the future of focusing in on many of the activities that our retirees are involved in, in their communities, you know, a lot as far as participating with food banks, or reading or volunteering in certain ways. So that is something that we're we're pursuing a bit with OEA-R.

Katie Olmsted 17:18
And for anybody who would like to pursue a closer connection with OEA-R, how do they contact you? What should they do

Phil Long 17:27
on the OEA website, they can go to, there is a section there for OEA R, that will tell you know some of the benefits of belonging to OEA R, and also the membership forms. And OEA-R also has a website that they can find that information, as well. So and then each of our districts we have retired organization that they should be able to connect with. Our Advisory Council is made up of a representative from each of the 10 districts. And we also have a representative for the ESPs and for higher ed. So they also have people that represent them and that they can be in contact with to become in or become involved in OEA are.

Katie Olmsted 18:28
Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate you sitting down with us and all that you do with retirees and for our students.

Phil Long 18:37
But thank you so much. And believe me, I have just touched the tip of the iceberg of really what OEA-R is about and what we're doing so yes, please stay tuned to what is going on with OEA-R.

Katie Olmsted 18:57
You can find the link to learn more about getting involved with OEA-R in the Episode Notes for this podcast. That's where you'll also find a link for the full library of Read Across America videos from the past couple of years. It was truly a wonderful resource. And while you're online, make sure you like or subscribe to Education Matters wherever you get your podcasts so you don't miss a thing, or get the latest from OEA on social media anytime. We're at Ohio OEA on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Until next time, stay well

Transcribed by https://otter.ai